The Past is the Past
by kandisi
Summary: Yaoi, Bryan x Lei, Complete. Lei discovers Heihachi is not only after Kazuya and Jin, but now Bryan as well. Through his investigations, he may encounter more than he had originally bargained for... For mature audiences, please!
1. The Past is the Past: Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yes people, I actually did it, and if this bothers you, I'm sorry. Well, I guess I'm not... I've attempted to write a good serious Brei fic now, and I know already that I suck, so you don't have to tell me... 

*Anyway, please do **NOT** read this if you: Do not like yaoi (What are you doing here then?), are under aged, or even if you are one of those "When it comes to Tekken yaoi I only like Jin/Hwoarang" people. This is a pairing where you actually have to know the extended storyline behind Bryan and Lei to understand, and it isn't a pairing you can just assume by looking at a couple of T4 endings and reading a few paragraphs in the strategy guides the way you can with Hwoajin, and many of the other pairings.

*Warnings: This story includes violence, language, alcohol use, drug use, and contains sexual content and situations. In other words, this story is not intended for kiddies.

*If you skip parts that may seem boring, you will not understand anything that happens later on... 

*And last... please don't flame me... (I know, I'm a wimp...)

Disclaimer: Any stated poetry at the top of the chapters is that of Leslie Rentas, and I do not own Tekken or any of its fighters, though I would definitely take Lee, Lei, and Jin... (And screw some of the ages, for they sure don't look like it when they're fight'n on the screen to me...) ^_^;

Well, err, hope you like this... 

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 1

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_~The past holds many secrets_

_better__ left untold. . ._

_For to bring them to the present_

_its__ bitterness unfolds. . ._

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This was it. Detective Lei Wulong was at long last going to bring down his long-time rival Bryan Fury. He had escaped before, but he wasn't going to this time. Lei had been through enough due to this man, if that's even what you could call him... 

Currently, Lei was in a rather 'unfriendly' part of Tokyo, along with a few other members of the Hong Kong International Police Force. Lei had done a little research of his own back at the Mishima Labs, and Nina Williams wasn't the only one he had checked into, he had also checked into Bryan's profile and status there. And yet, there was something he still didn't quite get. It seemed Bryan was not only wanted for his arrest, but it now appeared Heihachi Mishima was after him as well... What was up with this? He very well understood Heihachi's interest in the capturing of Kazuya and Jin, but Bryan? Now this just didn't make sense. Something was up, and Lei Wulong was determined to figure it out for himself.

He actually wouldn't be surprised if Bryan was working for Heihachi, or had been at least. Maybe this was why. Maybe Bryan had betrayed him or something? Lei wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Not to mention, Bryan had been engineered by Dr. Abel, who just 'happened' to be at the head of Mishima Labs, so no, he wouldn't be surprised.

Lei had arrived to this part of town along with four other detectives as well, though he had found his way away from the rest of them. Lei liked to do things his way, and his way alone. He also preferred working on cases individually, and most of all, he didn't like taking orders from anyone, much less following them. It truly was the detective's strong sense of arrogance and will which often seemed to get him into so much trouble, but to get right down to it, he just didn't care. Come to think of it, Lei was maligned just as much, or even more so than Bryan Fury himself sometimes by many of the members on his own force.

Lei definitely remembered this neighbourhood from one of his last unpleasant encounters with Bryan Fury. The alleyways were extremely narrow, lining the many deserted warehouses and apartment complexes, with more than half of the small shops closed or out of business on the surrounding streets, and to top it all off, there was not much light. The thing was, Bryan wasn't your ordinary convict... It would take more than a simple gun shot to bring him down, though Lei had a different plan this time.

As Lei made it down yet another one of the many darkened alleys, he sighed to himself once more. He'd been down here before earlier, Bryan had them all going in repetitive circles... Lei knew that he, as well as the rest of the force didn't have much longer to find the disreputable Fury, even though they had practically the whole downtown area completely surrounded so he wouldn't escape. Lei really felt that he was the only one of them who didn't underestimate Fury; he knew very well that Bryan would have no trouble whatsoever getting past any of them. He also felt he was the only one who could take Bryan down, also feeling like it was his obligation to in the same sense. 

Lei began to pick up the pace as he made it further down the seemingly deserted alley. He remained alert, with his gun securely ensured in front of him with both hands. He had the feeling... that he was not alone... 

He turned swiftly at any sound he heard, or anything he thought he saw move in the corner of his eye, but so far, everything had seemed normal enough. That's when he heard something for sure, the sound of rapid footsteps ahead in the dark. Lei quietly ran further down the narrow path, until he'd almost reached the end of the alley way, which intersected with another one on up ahead, in a 'T' figuration. Once there, he looked both ways, left and right, and saw nothing. It was not only dark, but considerably foggy as well. He sighed to himself before he turned right; on account of this is where the sound of footsteps had come from a second ago, or so he thought at least.

Lei then vigilantly made his way down the path of this alley, though he knew there were others ahead. This place was like a damned maze, definitely giving Bryan the edge he needed, though in these conditions, he already had it none the less. Bryan's engineered vision would make seeing in these conditions no problem whatsoever, while everyone else was left squinting and stumbling around in the misted dark. 

The shrewd detective suddenly jumped at the sound of something straight ahead, it sounded like a falling trashcan, or at least something metalled hitting the pavement. Lei stayed close to the brick wall as he held his gun firmly in his right hand. With his arm extended in front of him, he hastily stepped closer to the sound, which still echoed ahead, though he still couldn't see anything at all. Only the immense darkness. He then stood at the intersection between the two alleys, which this time made more of an 'X', though the brick wall further down to his left indicated a dead end, and he still couldn't tell how long either of the other two paths were for the moment. Lei was about to continue on his way, when he heard the exact same sound he had before, only this time coming from his right. He swiftly turned his head, and his arm which held the gun. 

This time, he swore he saw a shadowed figure among the mist, though still inscrutable. He was about to pull the trigger on his gun, when in an instant he remembered how there were four other members of his force out there, not to mention, he had turned his radio off quite some time ago, which he was sure to get in trouble for later on. Lei still continued to hold the gun in front of him with his arm extended, debating on what move he should make next, when suddenly, it happened...

Lei nearly fell to the ground just like that, as he clutched his right hand, and his gun scurried across the ground... A shot had been fired at him from his left, and whoever this was had perfect aim, for the bullet hit the tip of Lei's gun straight on. The force of this had hurt pretty badly, though Lei was quite thankful it had just been his gun which took the hit, and not his hand along with it. He then heard a disquieting low-pitched laugh in the background of the alley he now faced. He didn't even have to think twice as to who it was...

"Hello, Lei Wulong." 

Lei heard these words as he now saw none other than Bryan Fury emerge from the darkness. Lei didn't answer, and just nonchalantly faced the fighter ahead. It was also quite evident that Bryan had a gun of his own in hand, aimed directly for him...

"I've been expecting you, Lei," Bryan spoke in his usual malicious tone.

Lei looked down temporarily to see if he could spot where his gun had fallen to, until he saw it lying on the ground several yards away. "I wouldn't think about touching that gun if I were you," Bryan said in a stern voice, "Besides, how many years is it going to take for you to learn that you and your little toys are no match for me?"

Lei narrowed his raven brows. He hated to be mocked, especially by Fury. Lei suddenly said the first thing that sprang to mind, "What are you up to working for Heihachi Mishima?"

Bryan smirked in response, "You honestly think I would side with that insane man, or Abel, for that matter?"

"Don't fuck with me, Fury," Lei harshly retorted to the sound of impertinence in Bryan's voice. 

Bryan smiled darkly at this last comment of Lei's... "I'm telling the truth, Lei."

Lei had noticed something. Bryan had never before referred to him as 'Lei', but always as 'Wulong'. Oh well, it was no big deal, especially when he had a gun six feet in front of his face, so he chose to ignore it for the time being. "If this 'is' true, then what is Heihachi after you for?"

"Because he wants me dead," Bryan simply replied as he stared at Lei with the gun still in hand, they hadn't broken eye contact for more than a second since he had come into view. 

This wasn't much of an answer for Lei, considering Bryan was well known for chicanery, and also that Heihachi wanted just about every one of the fighters from the last tournament dead, including Lei himself, so no, this wasn't much of an answer at all, there was something else...

...However, before Lei could even obtain to ask anything else, footsteps were heard in the distance. And not just a few, but seemingly many...

Bryan pointed his gun while gesturing his glance in the direction of the path to his left. "Now, get moving." 

Lei didn't know what to think. Was this his police force? Or perhaps someone else...? Lei reached his hand down to his belt, ready to check his radio, when Bryan snatched it first, before smashing it down to the pavement in one swift movement a split second later.

"Now," Bryan sternly repeated, "I said move."

Without another option for the time being, Lei did as he was told, and followed Bryan's lead down the narrow path of the alley, which this time led back out to the street. Upon reaching the end, Lei decided to take his chances, as usual, in speaking up once more. "They'll find you, and you'll finally pay for the crimes you've committed. You can't run forever," Lei declared boldly, in a rather rude tone of voice.

In an instant, Bryan turned and roughly pushed Lei up against the nearby wall, pinning him there with his immense strength. "I wouldn't be the one to talk right now if I were you. Don't think I won't kill you."

Lei was actually wondering why Bryan hadn't attempted to kill him already by this point, he just had the prime opportunity, why didn't he take it...? But if Bryan was instead planning on taking him hostage, then there was no way Lei was going to let this happen. 

He was about to attempt a fast attack of some sort, until Bryan swiftly brought the gun up to the side up his face in anticipation of it, "Like I said, don't think I won't kill you, but if I do, I wouldn't prefer using the gun to do it with, I'd much rather use my bare hands." he then leaned in even closer, until he was lip to ear with Lei, "It really would be a shame, though," Bryan whispered rather darkly, slowly tracing the tip of the gun along the opposing side of Lei's face, "To kill someone so beautiful as you."

Lei let out a small gasp at this as his eyes widened, and then felt his breathing start to involuntarily pick up when Bryan didn't pull away... "What's the matter Lei? Still can't handle the truth? I've spent my entire new life being forced to run away from people, while you've spent yours running away from yourself, unable and unwilling to except the way things are. You and I may be complete opposites, but at the same time, we're exactly alike."

This was strange... to hear Bryan speak such words. Not to mention, Lei didn't at all recognize this to be Bryan's 'usual' tone of voice. The one he was speaking in now was in a harsh whisper, more... on the seductive-sounding side... Bryan then lowered the gun a little as he brought his free hand up to the side of Lei's brow furrowing face.

"Wha-what are you doing...?" Lei was unable to hide the small tinge of fear evidently present in his voice.

Bryan didn't respond, and just grinned, this time in his usual mocking sense. But... before either one of them could say anything else, the sound of footsteps began to echo throughout the walls. Bryan pulled away and ensured the Chinese by his arm. "Come on," Bryan commanded.

"If you're planning on taking me hostage, then you can think again, Fury!" Lei then attempted to free his arm, but Bryan's grip on it just tightened to a painful extent. He seemed to be stronger than ever... "I already have," was all Fury obtained to say before forcefully dragging Lei out toward the street, with his gun still raised. Once they'd reached the end of the alley, Bryan peeked his head around one of the brick walls to check if the coast was clear or not, and it seemed clear enough...

Bryan knew he still had to be especially careful though. He was just as fast as Lei, and obviously more powerful, but Lei was still overwhelmingly quick, graceful, agile, and Bryan didn't want to take any chances on him getting away.

"The rest of my police force is out here," Lei growled, "Don't think you'll be able to get away quite so easily..."

Bryan laughed silently to himself, "But you see, they're busy with Heihachi's men at the moment."

"What...? But how do you know they're here?" Lei asked, knowing very well that it was indeed a definite possibility.

"They've been following me everywhere since the fourth tournament ended."

"Yes, and you still haven't told me why." Lei was expecting an answer at this point, or at least some form of reply, but Bryan didn't respond and just stepped out toward the street, not once lowering the gun at all. Lei had been waiting for an opportune moment to launch an attack on him, but Bryan hadn't once let his guard down, and seemed to be anticipating any attack. 

And Lei didn't want to admit it, and wouldn't, but he was still a little shaken up from what had just happened a moment ago when Bryan had him pinned up against the brick wall, and at the _seemingly_ cajole remarks, though he figured Fury had just been trying to startle him, and nothing more...

They both went out to the apparently deserted street as they cautiously looked around. Lei then watched as Bryan just stood temporarily, seemingly scanning the surrounding area in some way, though still intent on any unauthorized movements from the Chinese. Bryan didn't have to worry about Lei trying to escape, though. Lei wasn't going to run, then Fury would get away for sure. No, he wouldn't run, he would wait for the prime opportunity to attack, and then take it. He just needed to get the gun out of Bryan's hands; then the odds would be evened out a little more. True, the gun wouldn't be of too much use to Lei against Fury, but it would definitely give Lei a better chance than for Bryan himself to have possession of it.

Could Lei Wulong actually defeat Bryan Fury? He had always told himself yes, but he still had yet to verify this for sure. Much to Lei's dismay, he and Bryan had never gotten to fight at the tournament. Lei still didn't understand this, and it remained yet another one of the many unsolved mysteries to date. However, Lei had also noticed that Hwoarang had seemingly been denied his long-awaited and anticipated match against Jin Kazama, so maybe this was why. Maybe Heihachi had just been trying to piss them all off in denying certain matches to take place? This was definitely a possibility, for there were obviously more than just a few fighters who had been upset, or even enraged at an apparently denied match.

This wasn't really the best or most appropriate time to be giving thought on this matter, though, as Lei felt something was definitely wrong about this place... The area had become abruptly quiet. Too quiet. And it seemed Bryan was having his own doubts as to if they were really alone out there, or being watched...

"We're not alone," Lei stated as he stared down the darkened street which seemed to have no end to it, while the increasing flow of wind blew back through his hair.

Bryan turned at this remark, "And how the hell would you know this? You can't see a thing." 

"You're right, I can't," Lei replied, "But I can still feel it. One of the most important rules of fighting has always been that one mustn't rely so much on their eyes, for they can never show you everything," he then followed this declaration with a smirk, "A true fighter knows this."

"Don't give me that shit of yours," Bryan said discordantly, "I've learned a lot in the past several years, and I can tell you right now that nothing will get you further than strength itself, and that's reality, though it seems to be you Chinese who have the hardest time understanding this."

Lei was angered by this comment which had basically indicated Fury viewed him as a proletariat, and also annoyed by Bryan's obvious sense of obstinacy at the same time. Lei didn't really have much of a chance to retort, however, as the window of a nearby car was suddenly shattered into scant pieces following the sound of a gun shot.

In a quick motion, Bryan sharply turned and forcefully pushed Lei hard down to ground. Judging from where the shot had apparently come into contact with the car's window behind them, Bryan realized that this shot had in fact not been intended for him, but Lei... He then heard the cursing of someone from above, who had obviously been disappointed with their erroneous aim. Bryan looked up toward the abandoned apartment complex to his front. It became all too clear that someone was evidently up there, as well as most likely in other buildings surrounding the premises as well.

"Damnit," Bryan growled in realization to this. This had to be Tekkenshu...

Lei had risen by this point, his left arm stained with blood from where his elbow had roughly made contact with the pavement during the fall. He hadn't been expecting Bryan to push him down like that, but this was obviously not the time to fight, not with him at least. Lei was very certain that the Tekken Force had to be the ones responsible for this sudden outplay too, when he then began to hear a foreign sound in the wind, it was sirens. Bryan never thought he'd see the day where he was actually thankful to hear the despised sound ringing through the air.

Another shot. This time barely a miss as Lei swiftly dodged to the side and the bullet instead made its mark in the white car door of the Sudan a few feet behind him. 

"You better stay down this time, or I'll shoot you myself," Bryan firmly ordered as he once again pointed the gun at Lei, who was lying bewildered on the concreted pavement.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Lei exclaimed, though he then figured that Bryan was just trying to pull the whole 'a live hostage is worth more than a dead one' ordeal.

Bryan then turned his head to the right as the flashing illumination of colors was clearly visible, accompanied by the growing sound of sirens. Lei sighed somewhat in relief, as it appeared a few more members of his international police force had finally joined in on the scene, along with other policeman as well, judging from the extensive number of cars coming into view. 

Lei quickly noticed that Bryan had apparently been distracted by the upcoming show of police cars, and decided this was the perfect opportunity to strike. He sprang up from the ground in one swift movement, as Fury then found himself the one spinning to the ground. 

Mao Ziyang, who was also a detective of the Hong Kong International Police Force, hastily exited from one of the many police cars. They had all stopped at the end of the street about fifty yards away or so from where it now appeared Bryan and Lei were fighting, seemingly unaware of the shots being fired off and on from the surrounding complexes. One of the several other detectives who had his encounters with the Tekkenshu hadn't failed on contacting the others, so it wasn't long before it was realized that the situation was in fact much more complex than everyone had originally thought. Lei had been right... 

That's when it happened. A grenade was thrown from one of the surrounding complexes, landing on the pavement only several yards away from where Lei and Bryan were on the street...

The police force watched this is shock. "Lei!! Get out of there!!" Mao screamed as he saw this, and a split second later, the grenade went off... An immense explosion was heard as the policeman all ducked behind their cars temporarily so as not to get hit by any scattering debris. When everyone eventually found the strength to stand back up and take a look, all that could be seen was a conflagration of raging flames, along with various car parts scattered down the street...

This definitely didn't look too promising... Several of the policemen bowed their heads at the sight of this, it was almost an absolute certainty that Lei Wulong was dead; no one could have survived an explosion of that magnitude. 

But wait, what was this they were seeing now? Eyebrows furrowed in confusion as a figure was seen emerging from the depth of the flames, or so it appeared. "Oh my god..." one of the detectives murmured as he realized the sight he was now witnessing before him. It was Bryan Fury, seemingly unharmed at all, as he carried another figure... Mao then saw the long hair swaying in all directions in the distance. That was Lei in his arms...

"Put him down now and get your hands up in the air!!" One of the detectives shouted as he saw Bryan stepping closer towards the rest of them. Fury was faced with many disgusted glances, was Lei dead...? He clearly wasn't moving, so it sure looked like it, and it now appeared to the many policeman and detectives that Bryan was just trying to show this off in some sick mockery.

Lei wasn't dead though... and he didn't know what was going on, he was near passing out. All he could remember for the moment was how he heard the explosion, and then flew back and hit the concreted wall of a nearby building, hard. His eyes were shut, and he didn't know what to think as his consciousness slipped away.

Bryan raised Lei up a little further in his arms, brushing the thick strands of raven hair away from his ear, as he pressed his lips there, "We'll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I'll finally get what I want from you..." he then knelt down and gently placed Lei to the pavement. 

"Fire!!"

Gunshots were then fired at Bryan left and right, though there was no affect, and Fury simply smiled with a dark smirk before turning and sprinting back toward the still burning flames. He then practically disappeared, vanishing into the midst, just like that...

Just before Lei completely lost consciousness, he had a couple of last second thoughts cross his mind...

_Why...? Why did he save me...? What does he want from me...?_

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A/N: Err, yea... Forgive me if you think I suck at writing, but it's not necessary that you tell me this if you think so... (I already know) Please review if you thought it was ok, I just kindly ask for no flames.


	2. The Past is the Past: Chapter 2

A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you for reading, and I would especially like to thank: Jade queen of the Damned, dracanta, Tessa, Janie, Daryl-chan, The Sauce, Yuki Haroshima, and Callisto moon for the great reviews! I really appreciate it! =) 

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter Two

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_~There is no need to relive the past_

_for__ to do so is in vain. . ._

_Yesterday's gone, today is here_

_why__ relive the pain. . .?_

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"Lei?"

Lei solemnly awoke, his head spinning endlessly as he groaned.

"Hey, you awake yet?"

Lei then opened his eyes at the sound of a familiar voice, it was Detective Mao Ziyang. He then caught a better glance of his surroundings, and realized he was apparently in a hospital room. "Ziyang? What's going on here?"

"You mean you honestly don't remember?" Mao asked as his brows furrowed behind the lenses of his glasses. Mao Ziyang was a somewhat tall, middle-aged Chinese man with finely cut short, black hair. He was one of the several other detectives who had also come from China on assignment to work on several cases, though it had now changed from what many of them originally had in mind. 

Lei was still trying to recall anything from before he had lost consciousness, when his eyes widened slightly as it suddenly dawned on him. 

"I-I remember how we were looking for Fury, and how—."

"How you disregarded your orders and separated from everyone else?" Mao sighed, "Lei, you can't keep doing this. You remember what happened—."

"'Last time'," Lei sighed as well, "Yes, I know, must everyone keep reminding me?"

"You cost us two years of work, Lei, and all because of how you're always trying to take care of everything on your own, by yourself. Everyone needs help at one point or another, and you need to understand that some jobs are just too big for one man alone to handle," Mao assured.

"I've heard this already," Lei replied with yet another sigh, "Yes, I admit it, 'I' made a mistake." Mao was one of Lei's friends on the force, but Lei was still getting tired of hearing the same speeches – and that went for everybody.

"But you said it wouldn't happen again Lei, that's the thing. You were already in for as it is for breaking codes #27, #13 and #98, which are—"

"Withholding evidence and information vital to a case, use of restricted firing weapons, and proceeding active detective responsibilities during suspension," Lei cut him off once more, "But why does it matter? Steve Fox is safe, and the mafia's been halted as well."

"But Nina Williams is still loose," Mao retorted, "You _knew her location following the end of the tournament, Lei. And yet you still didn't find it suitable to _your _needs to share this information. And let's not forget that you were on 'suspension', so your actions have been nothing short of reprehensible."_

"Well _I _was the only one admitted into the tournament," Lei arrogantly argued, knowing very well that this was beside the whole point.

Mao sighed once more. _Here we go again. _"Yes Lei. You may be the best fighter on the force, and one of the best fighters in the whole world at that, but still..."

"'But still' what?" Lei asked, though already knowing Mao was right, he just wouldn't admit it. 

"...People are beginning to have their doubts about you, Lei. About your loyalty to the force."

"You know that's a bunch of crap, Mao," Lei shot back, "This is just more of Zhang Han's trash that he's feeding everyone, him and his damn allegations. He just wants my job, and you know this."

Mao nodded, "You know I agree with you there, I'm not too fond of him either... but he's not the only one, and you know how disputatious Zhang is, so now you can bet he is more than likely going to pin the whole situation from yesterday on you as well."

Lei didn't answer, and seemed to be trying to remember everything from earlier on.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Mao began, "What happened downtown last night _did _look pretty damn suspicious, and even though I have faith in you, I'd still like to know about it. You should just be glad that I'm the one who got sent in here to question you, and not Zhang."

Lei's brows furrowed a bit, "I don't understand what you're getting at."

"Lei, you should know what I'm talking about... What the hell happened with Fury last night? We all saw the way he saved you, the way he held you in his arms and then whispered something in your ear like that. Hell, Lei."

"Wha-what...?" Lei stuttered, he honestly didn't remember this at the moment. The last thing he could fully remember was how he was fighting with Bryan, and then there was suddenly an explosion.

Mao sighed once more, "Everyone saw it Lei. We all thought you were dead at first, but it became clear that you weren't soon after. Surely you must remember something?"

Lei gasped as he suddenly was stricken with something... 

_"We'll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I'll finally get what I want from you..."_

"Hey, Lei? Lei? What is it?"

"Uh, nothing," Lei shook his head slightly with assurance, "I just had a flashback of earlier, that's all."

"Well it was quite some scene you two put on. It's just... a few had the impression that maybe you two were working together, or something..."

"What?!" Lei exclaimed, "I'd assume die than even praise the treacherous 'thing'."

"And I know that," Mao agreed, "It's just there are a few others who may need a little more convincing."

"Zhang," Lei sighed.

Mao nodded, "Of course..."

"Well the answer is obviously 'no', I'm not working with him, and that idiot Zhang needs to mined his own damned business," Lei said in a firm voice, "I've had enough shit from him already. Don't think I didn't find out about that little report he slipped to Hiroya Nakano on how my work has been 'so poor' because I tend to let personal affairs interfere with my performance."

"Well he does have one point," Mao said hesitantly, "You did let the whole thing with Arisa Nagai get you down pretty bad, you were rather despondent for a while..."

"I don't want to talk about Arisa," Lei sternly said in a choleric tone, "She's a liar, and nothing more. She left me claiming I was a 'workaholic', and that I didn't pay enough attention to her or give a damn about her, when it really all goes back to Zhang, again."

Mao chuckled slightly to himself, "I know what you mean Lei, I really do. Work has gotten to the point where it isn't too much different from some fucked-up high school experience."

"Yes, I get you there, but what I don't get is why is Zhang still trying to torment me? I thought it was all about Arisa at first, but after she went 'back' to him, I expected him to finally lay off," Lei sighed for about the tenth time.

"I guess the word forgive just isn't in his vocabulary, but oh well," Mao shrugged, "And about Arisa, I'm sure you'll find someone better out there, anyway. Someone who's at least faithful."

Lei just shrugged and nodded, "Maybe, but I don't really even think about relationships anymore, it seems I always have the bad luck and don't even give me the 'here we go again about Jun Kazama' look, because I have too much of a headache to talk about it." They then both started to laugh slightly at this.

"Yea, well I have to get going now, we're still trying to locate Nina Williams, as well as Bryan Fury of course," Mao then began to head for the exit.

"Hey," Lei spoke up once more, "Do you have any idea when I'll be out of here? I really don't have time for this."

"Only several days," Mao replied, "They said you had a mild concussion and minor blood loss from a few bad cuts, but that's about it. Really though, you should be glad you get a break, hell, I know I'd take it."

"Well I have a few words missing from my vocabulary as well, and 'break' is one of them, in that meaning at least, but I guess you're right," said Lei. It was all too true though, he worked even on the few days off he was allowed.

Mao just nodded as he waved a goodbye, "Well, I'll see you later Lei, probably tomorrow morning around this time if all goes well."

Lei also nodded, "Ok, bye."

Lei was then left alone with his thoughts, though he really didn't want to think about them... He then had the same flashback of those last few words from Bryan... _"We'll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I'll finally get what I want from you..."_

"What does he want from me?" Lei questioned aloud. "I don't understand... Why the hell did _Fury save my life...?" Lei then thought it over a little more, and abruptly came to the conclusion that Bryan had wanted to put him in debt. But in debt for what? What could Bryan possibly want from him of all people? Lei figured that Fury would expect him to be a little more lenient on him or something. Maybe he expected Lei to convince or order the rest of his force to forget about Fury and let him go. Sure, Lei possibly could do this, considering he still held a reasonable status, but there was no way in hell he was about to do this. Fury didn't give a damn about him, no, he was just trying to help himself, and this just pissed Lei off even more, making Lei hate him even more._

Not to mention, Fury _was _connected to the syndicate Lei had failed to bring to justice, so to get right down to it, Lei had gotten to the point where he blamed his whole loss of honour on Bryan in the first place. And Detective Ziyang had been right, Lei had disregarded orders and tried to go in to take the rebellious chicaner down himself, but it seemed Fury had outwitted him, again. 

Lei sighed while trying to flood the numerous thoughts plaguing his mind as he looked up at the clock on the wall across from him. It was already nearly noon. Oh well, at least Lei would get a chance to relax, even though it was still so hard to do with so many questions that remained unanswered...

*^*^*

As Detective Mao Ziyang opened the doors and re-entered the waiting room, he caught glance of the three other detectives from The Hong Kong International Police Force who had also been assigned to work in Tokyo with the Japanese police forces in finding Nina Williams and Bryan Fury, as well as clearing up a few unsolved mysteries that centered around Heihachi Mishima and his family.

The other detectives were Masaki Kokan, Kita Okura, and Zhang Han. Masaki was of Japanese ethnicity and pushing forty. He was an all-around friendly person and an outstanding detective, just not much of a leader, but he wanted it this way. Kita Okura was one of the few women who held any real status on the force, and it had only been recently that women were even allowed to do anything other than hold the place of a secretary. She didn't get along too well with Lei at times, but they were still friends, and she secretly admired him and loved to flirt every now and again, though it seemed Lei had showed no interest thus far. 

And last, the twenty-nine year old Chinese Zhang Han, Lei's former subordinate who had recently been promoted to a head detective. He detested Lei with a passion. Even at the explosion in Down Town Tokyo the night before when everyone had thought Lei was dead, he had been smiling. He had actually cursed at the news that Lei wasn't dead. And this wasn't just over past affairs with Arisa, Zhang viewed Lei as an honourless man without principles who would do nothing for the force but corrupt it. He was also a very suspicious man, and not very trusting. He felt he could see right through Lei's little shenanigans, and had really earned his stripes on the force for turning Lei in after he'd botched up that last operation. 

Zhang had the idea that Lei had done this on purpose, and that he was secretly a subterfuge-playing traitor. Someone on the force was, but no one to date had been able to prove who... Zhang knew it just had to be Lei, the clues were there, and it was all too obvious. The botching of the operation, the escape of Nina Williams and several mafia outlaws, the withholding of evidence on more than just a few cases, separation from cases, the whole 'Bryan Fury' incident as well as his escapes, and hell, even Lei's partner who had been murdered by the mafia twenty years ago 'supposedly' by Kazuya's men. Yeah-right. Lei gained a promotion due to this, and Zhang figured Lei had been in on it. Zhang had gained support from a few others on the force as well, but there was just no proof. This didn't matter though. Lei's downfall would be his uprising, and Zhang would make sure he went down too. He would either find a way to prove Lei guilty of betrayal, or result to more... drastic methods...

Zhang Han abruptly stood up from his seat on the nearby couch as he saw Mao Ziyang entering the waiting room. "So, what did he say?"

"He said no of course, and I told you he'd say that. Lei's not a traitor," Mao assured.

"Pah," Zhang spat, "I knew I should have been the one to go back there and question him. He would know better than to lie to me, for he knows I'm not buying his shit."

"Calm down, Zhang," Kita sighed as she too stood up, "Lei's had a hard night, just give him a break for once."

Masaki then stood up as well, "Why don't we just leave him in peace and come back tomorrow morning like we planned, then we'll all get a chance to see him and maybe he'll be able to answer some more questions then?"

"I agree with Masaki," Mao replied, "We need to go back to Tokyo Headquarters and see what else we can find out on the whereabouts of Bryan Fury and Nina Williams for now, as well as seeing what else we can find out about Heihachi and what he's up to. We also know he's after Fury for something, we just don't know what or why."

"I bet Lei knows why," Zhang hissed under his breath.

All three of the other detectives sighed in unison at the sound of this, but chose not to get him started on it once again. "Let's just go now," said Mao as he walked over to the hospital's exit, followed shortly by the other three detectives. 

This would definitely be a long week...

*^*^*

_Twelve hours later..._

Lei was getting rather bored by this time, and had yet to find so much as even an ounce of sleep the whole day through. He had just mostly silently sat, brushing his hair a couple times while watching various things on TV, including a rather lovely news report basically on how 'World renowned Tekken fighter Detective Lei Wulong messes up once again'. Lei turned the channel after hearing this, he didn't want to see or hear anymore, he'd hear enough of it when he eventually got back to Hong Kong. Lei had entered the tournament with the soul purpose of regaining his honour, only to end up tainting it even more than it had been... 

_Maybe I entered the tournament for the wrong reason after all... hell, I didn't give a damn about Steve Fox, the money, the Zaibatsu, Nina, or Fury, I just wanted to be respected the way I once was. Or rather..._

"I just didn't want things to change..."

Lei went ahead and turned the television off, deciding to take a shot at perhaps getting some sleep. He'd attempted to on and off throughout the day, but it'd been useless so far. He had too much on his mind to sleep. Never the less, he turned the lamp off on the nightstand next to his bed as he then laid his head down on the pillow, which was actually rather uncomfortable. Even then the thoughts were still constantly invading his mind in an endless retrospect. Those same disquieting thoughts; questions, mostly on Fury, and what his true motives really were...

*^*^*

_"You better stay down this time, or I'll shoot you myself."_

_ "Have you lost your mind?!"_

_ "What's the matter Lei? Still can't handle the truth? I've spent my entire new life being forced to run away from people, while you've spent yours running away from yourself, unable and unwilling to except the way things are. You and I may be complete opposites, but at the same time, we're exactly alike."_

_ "It really would be a shame, though. To kill someone so beautiful as you."_

_ "We'll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I'll finally get what I want from you..."_

_ "Fire!!"_

A crash of thunder

Lei suddenly woke up with a gasp as he immediately sat up, his left palm touching the side of his face. He thought he had just felt someone's touch for real, but thankfully it had just been a dream this time, or more a nightmare in Lei's eyes. He didn't know what time it was, but it had to be roughly around one, maybe two in the morning or so. He glanced over at the window to his right of the large room. It was pouring down rain, accompanied by frequent flashes of lighting and sounds of thunder which filled the room and echoed throughout the building.

Lei was panting slightly as he ran his hand back through his cascading bangs. It had felt so real only a moment ago... The touch of a hand on his face. Lei rapidly looked around the room, and was about to turn on the lamp's light switch next to him, but then realized how paranoid he was actually being. 

_ Maybe I'm the one who's lost my mind..._

The detective just sighed to himself with a slight smirk before laying back down once more, feeling rather stupid at that. He lay on his side, facing the direction of the window on the far side of the room, watching as the lightning temporarily filled the room a few scant times before once more closing his eyes. ...Only to swiftly open them to the max a split second later in remembrance to something that had slipped his mind before...

_ The blinds were down— _"Oh my god..."

"Hello dear Lei."

And just like that, Lei felt his mouth abruptly covered by dampened clothes, and immediately knew they were soaked with rubbing alcohol or at least some kind of narcotics...

His arms struggled, compelling with the ones restraining him... but it did no good, and Lei slowly felt himself weaken more and more as his eyes began to roll back, until everything finally went black a few seconds later...

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

A/N: Um, yea... Well I'll have the third chapter up soon too, and thanks once again to my reviews, as well as other readers! ^_^


	3. The Past is the Past: Chapter 3

A/N: Yep, this is the chapter where the rating really takes its dive(One of them, anyway), so if you already know you probably couldn't handle it, as crappy writer at lemons as I more than likely am, then I strongly advise you not to read the second half of this chapter, and if you are unaware with what a lemon is, other than the citric yellow fruit, then you definitely shouldn't read this... ^^;

Um, and I guess that's all on that...

Daryl-chan: Uh huh, that fic will definitely be one I never forget... but I've read nearly all of the fics from that Portuguese sight, and most of them were pretty scary... But hey, at least it's a pairing I love; I've been to sights and seen... things such as Jin x Ganryu, and Heihachi x Kuma...

** The Past is the Past**

Chapter 3

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

_~Forget the past as you turn away_

_and__ wish it a farewell. . ._

_For no longer in the past_

_will__ the present dwell. . ._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Kita Okura sighed as she went over yet more paper work dealing with the cases. She and the other detectives from the Hong Kong International Police Force, minus Lei, were all currently at the building for Tokyo's own international force. She glanced yet again at the circular clock plated on the wall to her front as she sat at the office desk. _2:45__ in the morning already... She shook her head. She and the others had been working almost non-stop for roughly over thirty hours or so; mostly on various cases of the sorts, all revolving in some way around Heihachi Mishima._

She had also come to the conclusion that Fury's connection with Heihachi lay with Abel in the Mishima Labs. Of course it would all have to go back to him and his damn science, again. It always did, so she should have known it wouldn't have been any different this time. Knowing this was still useless, though. Until they could find out what Heihachi really wanted Bryan for, it would remain this way. 

Kita suddenly jumped as she was startled by the ringing of the telephone in her office, as well as a few other office phones, but she chose to go ahead and answer it herself.

"Tokyo Headquarters this is Detective Okura speaking."

"Detective Okura, this is Tashiro Marusa, I'm a policeman calling from the local hospital."

Kita gasped slightly, she already had a bad feeling about this... "What happened? Is this about Lei Wulong...?"

"I'm afraid so..." he replied, "You may want to have a few detectives come down here and check this out for yourselves..."

"Tell me what happened to Lei," she ordered.

"...He's disappeared, but we didn't know what to think for sure, considering the condition of his hospital room... You need to—."

"I want to know about it first," Kita assured in a hesitant voice.

Tashiro swallowed, "The-the bed was covered massively in blood, as well as the floor, the walls..."

Kita froze on the spot as she covered her mouth with a hand, her eyes fully widened.

Tashiro then continued, "We still can't come to any 'definite' conclusions on this yet. Lei was receiving blood due to minor blood loss. It was type A negative, the same as his, but what we mean is this very well could be the blood that's smeared everywhere, and not necessarily Lei's own blood. The nurse here who entered Lei's room after hearing a crash come from it walked in to see the various needles and tubes dripping blood about the floor... It appeared the IV needles had been ripped right out..."

"So-so he'd not dead for sure then?"

"That's right, for now at least," said Tashiro, yet there was still one more concern, "Though we already know a few others weren't quite so lucky..."

Kita didn't even know if she wanted to hear this or not, "What is it...?"

"There was apparently a small bomb hidden some where within the confines of Lei's hospital room, which unfortunately went off only fifteen minutes or so after his apparent disappearance was made evident."

Kita thought this over for a moment, "So you're thinking someone only wants us to think Lei is actually dead then?"

"That's what we're guessing," Tashiro replied, "But I think you guys need to come down here and take a look for yourselves, and then give your opinions on the situation."

"We're on our ways."

*^*^*^*^

_"Oh my god..."_

_"Hello dear Lei."_

_"That's it, don't struggle."_

Lei slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he awoke. He then brought his right hand up to rub the side of his head, and noted immediately that his wrist was wrapped up in medical tape. It suddenly struck him... He was no longer in the hospital... but now somewhere else... Lei looked around; he was in a darkened room, with a window over to the left of the bed he now laid upon. He then turned the underside of both of his arms up to face him, as he then noticed both of his wrists were wrapped and bandaged, as well as his hands partially, and any other place where an IV had been inserted.

It was still storming like crazy outside as it had been earlier, then it hit Lei just like that... 

"Bryan Fury..." Lei muttered with his eyes widened in remembrance of what he last visualized and heard in the hospital room.

"I see you're finally awake."

Lei's glance shot straight up from his arms in one motion as he looked across the room in the direction of the voice's origin. The room was then filled with a brief flash of lighting from outside. This was all the light Lei needed to reveal someone was visibly standing on the opposing side of the room, leaning against the wall in the shadows. It was indeed Bryan Fury... 

Lei didn't know where to begin — why this had been done to him — why Fury had brought him here...

Bryan then suddenly flicked a lighter, lighting several candles which sat atop a nightstand against the shaded wall, emitting only so much light, only enough for Bryan and Lei to barely make each other's faces out.

"Fury..." Lei silently spat as he glared at him.

Bryan nodded, the same mischievous smile present on his face that he always seemed to show. Especially to Lei. "I bet you now have quite a few questions for me, Lei."

"Why the hell have you brought me here?!" Lei suddenly shot out. Of course he had quite a few questions to ask Fury, but this was the first one that sprang to mind.

"You may want to calm down a bit my dear Lei, you're still pretty weakened."

"Look Fury, I want answers, and I want them now," Lei demanded in a firm tone of voice.

"I'd watch that insolent tone if I were you," Bryan sternly warned as he took a few steps closer, "But okay then, let's start with the reason Heihachi Mishima really wants me dead."

"I'm listening," Lei replied as he sat up on the edge of the bed, also noting at this point that he was no longer in hospital uniform as he had been before, but now apparently in a pair of sweatpants. He decided he would ask about this later... Bryan had been right about Lei's condition though. Lei realized there was no way he currently had enough strength to take anyone down, especially Fury, but he knew he had to find a way out of this somehow...

"Let's see, what do you know about Abel's bio weapon?" Bryan asked.

Lei thought for a moment on if he should even answer this or not, since it was Fury who was supposed to be answering the questions, and not him. Not to mention, this was top secret evidence they were discussing, and Lei didn't want this to fall into the wrong hands, especially if Fury had some kind of sadistically sick and torturous execution in mind for him afterwards... He didn't know, but something told him to continue...

"I know that it is in connection with the devil gene. Some form of mutation, blending the devil gene with that of different life forms to create a new, supposedly enhanced one, which will only cause terrible things to erupt in the world as we know it."

Bryan nodded, "Well let's just say I have the key to putting a halt to all of this, and Heihachi wants it to forbid its use in this happening."

Lei's brows furrowed, "What is it then?"

"Hmm, maybe we can go back to that later," Bryan replied, "But let's move on for now. Next question."

Lei looked down in thought temporarily, before looking back up, "Why...?" Lei silently spoke with a hint of hesitance, "Why did you save me...?"

Bryan remained silent for a few brief moments, which in turn felt like a small eternity to Lei. "Why do you think I did?"

"I think you wanted to put me in debt to you," Lei replied rather rudely, "Maybe you thought I would order the other detectives or the Japanese International Forces to stop looking for you."

Bryan smiled mischievously once more, "True that you _are in debt to me, and for more than this one occasion, but you're wrong about what I want."_

Lei arched a brow, "If you don't want my help, then what _do you want from me?"_

Bryan took a few steps closer to the bed until he was standing right in front of Lei, who seemed to show no fear. He then stepped over to where he was slightly behind Lei, suddenly brushing his fingers through Lei's long and thick strands of raven hair that gleamed in the candle light. "Isn't it obvious, Lei Wulong?" Lei abruptly stood up and tried to turn around, but Bryan gripped each of his shoulders from behind to prevent him from doing so first, as he then leaned forward a little more and spoke a hushed, wet whisper in Lei's ear, "I want you."

Lei then felt as every joint and muscle in his body seemed to freeze as he gasped, his eyes quickly reframing from narrowed, to widened.

"It's true Lei," Bryan continued to whisper in the same dark tone of voice, "I wasn't lying before when I told you how beautiful you are. Even in every match we ever had the chance to fight each other in, as you shined with all your beauty and elegance... it was all I could do not to fuck you then and there." Bryan grinned still more as he felt Lei to tremble beneath his touch, "And what's more is I saw how you gave me the same looks, disguising your lust with your hate."

"Stop it," Lei pleaded in a barely evident whisper, his eyes half lowered. 

Bryan in turn kissed Lei's neck just below the ear, drawing yet another gasp from the Chinese, "I don't think either of us want that," Bryan said maliciously, right before he swiftly grabbed a firm hold of Lei's waist from behind and turned as he threw him hard down to the bed; instantly crawling atop him almost a split second later, straddling his legs.

Fury then took a hold of each one of Lei's still bandaged wrist and pushed them down to the mattress on each side of Lei, who looked up at Bryan with a mix of confusion, and fear... He didn't know what to think, he hadn't been expecting this; expecting Bryan Fury's desire for him. Sure, the possibility had at least crossed his mind, but at the same time, the thought hadn't due to Lei's refusal to believe it could be possible, so he had immediately excluded it. In one word: denial...

Bryan was contented so far. Lei hadn't even attempted to so much as struggle, and this meant that he had obviously been right on some level. Bryan proceeded to move further down until he was face to face with Lei, a firm hold still on his wrists.

Bryan grinned spitefully. "Afraid?" 

"No..." Lei whispered, trying to remain impassive. 

And with that, Bryan kissed him, hard, feeling as Lei almost yielded beneath him. Lei was in a notional daze, still in disbelief, not even this could make it real for him. This was Bryan Fury; the rebellious criminal, the outlaw, the murderer. His rival. He was the symbol of everything Lei was against, everything he in turn stood for himself. Almost like right and wrong, good and evil, even in their appearances; night and day...

Bryan suddenly broke from the kiss and began to blaze a trail down the side of Lei's neck, kissing and licking down to his chest, and then his hard plain of torso muscles. He smiled when he heard Lei emit a soft moan, as he then released Lei's wrists and grabbed each side of his sweatpants abruptly afterwards, partially tearing them as he roughly jerked them down off of the Chinese, who finally seemed to be letting the fear show on his face. 

And it was true, Lei was afraid. The sound of Bryan's zipper on his own camouflaged pants going down caused a shiver of fear to run through Lei like no gunshot had ever caused before, but he didn't want to show it, not to mention he had never been in this situation with another man before, that he hadn't rejected, that is. 

Lei craned his neck upwards once Fury was free of his own pants, taking a glance of Bryan in his full glory. ...Lei immediately realized this would be painful, no doubt about it. Even during the tournament Lei hadn't exactly been the only competitor who had noticed that Bryan was obviously much larger than average, just by taking a glimpse at him in those snakeskin pants of his.

"Now are you afraid?" Bryan harshly whispered in a mockingly dark, yet serious voice, roughly caressing Lei's outer thighs as he scratched his nails into them.

Lei didn't answer this time, for he knew Bryan could obviously read the tinge of fear gleaming in his dark opalescent eyes. And this was what Bryan wanted; he wanted Lei to fear him, to be at mercy to him. Fury then leaned further down one last time, separating Lei's muscular legs apart with his own knees as he did so. "And from now on, Lei Wulong..." Bryan whispered once more into Lei's ear, as Lei rolled his eyes closed, "You belong to me..." And with that, Bryan quickly jerked the other fighter's hips back with his hands, vigorously thrusting into Lei's tight entrance in one abrupt motion. 

Lei couldn't contain the shattered cry of pain that escaped his parted lips. It was as if any other form of pain he had ever experienced up until this moment was surely insignificant, not even an imbedded gunshot wound could compare... Bryan, on the other hand, didn't think he had ever felt such pleasure. Lei was so perfect; consummate, and Bryan had been dreaming about this moment for quite some time at that. 

This was probably why he hadn't bothered preparing Lei in any method for the penetration, and besides, he wanted to see him in pain. Bryan grasped the hips of the Chinese tightly in each hand, pulling them forcefully upwards as he thrusted forward into Lei ferociously. Lei tried his hardest to hold back as many supplicating shouts of pain as he could, or at least keep them stifled to some extent, but they just could not be repressed. This was just too much, and Bryan knew it. 

Lei felt his hips being pulled back and fourth in a rhythm that followed the forceful thrust of Bryan, whose nails were seemingly tearing into the flesh beneath them as blood clearly was seeping down. Lei's hands on each side of him grasped into the sheeted mattress with force and desperation, his eyes shutting unbearably tight as involuntary tears forced their way past his tightly closed, long-lashed eyelids and slid down each side of his face, falling back into the depths of his hair. Damn, he didn't want to cry, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd cried, it had been so long... 

Fury looked down upon the trembling form of the beautiful Chinese with lustful infatuation; he seemed so innocuously serene, even through the tormented cries. 

Bryan began angling his thrusts in different motions, in some particularly acute manner. Lei immediately felt as his back arched in reaction, feeling the pain substantially lessen to some degree as it was unconscientiously overshadowed by another feeling that he in turn had no control over. Bryan continued with each delectable onslaught, hearing as Lei's supplicate cries gradually became those of pain, mixed with pleasure. And this was what Fury wanted. He wanted to make sure Lei enjoyed this; craved for it as he did.

"Oh god..." Lei moaned through clenched teeth, feeling as he reflexively began thrusting his hips upwards to meet Bryan's own thrusts, his body covered in a sheen layer of sweat, matching the glistening tears which stained his face like liquidized diamonds. Fury showed him no mercy, as his moments were so forceful, causing Lei to gradually inch further back along the dampened sheets to the point where his head was fully pushed back against the bed rest. Bryan could feel his climax closing in, and this was the point where nothing else mattered. Nothing. 

Lei had figured Bryan's movements couldn't get much more vigorous. He was wrong. The rhythm, the force, the speed, had surely grown to inhuman levels, and this was the point where he was finally driven over the edge. Bryan listened as a torn cry was ripped from the beautiful Chinese below him, feeling the sudden essence of Lei's release between their sweat slickened, entwined bodies. Fury couldn't hold back much longer himself, crystalline droplets lining the tattooed skin on each side of his neck from exertion as he rammed into the trembling Chinese one last time, subconsciously moaning Lei's name in a muffled cry as he climaxed. He then quite nearly collapsed down onto Lei, stability lost in the heat of bliss. 

Both were gasping for breath. Possessed with the remainder of his orgasm, Bryan suddenly captured Lei's mouth with authority, feeling him to return the kiss with the same avid intensity as he ran his fingers through Lei's thick, raven wires of dampened hair. The immensely strong fighter then pulled himself out of Lei, hearing as the Chinese emitted the slightest of whimpers, before lying down next to him and taking the sweated body tightly into his arms as he pulled Lei against him, who seemed to be lost in a state of silent perplexity.

It didn't matter to Bryan, though. What Lei Wulong wanted for himself. If Lei had refused him, then he would have been forced, simple as that. But for some inexplicable reason, he was glad it had more or less worked out this way, though time would soon behold its truth, for it was winding down...

This still didn't matter to Bryan Fury, for Lei Wulong was now his, and there was nothing he, nor anyone else could do about it... 

^*^*^*^*^

A/N: Yep, I know I suck at this stuff... but like I say, I try at least. This actually took me a good amount of time to write at that, but my usual summer nights could use some tuning up all the same. I've actually written several other lemons, and one other on this pairing as well which is a much more graphic PWP, but I wouldn't post PWPs on ff.net, I don't really feel like it's the appropriate place to do so(Not it then Tekken genre anyway, since there's so few compared to Harry Potter and LotR so far, but I may some time in the future...) But for now, if I do put any up, I'll save them for noire sensus. ^^;


	4. The Past is the Past: Chapter 4

/N: Yes, I know; I update too fast... I just already have so much of this done since I've been working on it since February. Oh yeah, and thank you all SO much for the good reviews once again! Especially after that last chapter, due to how it was my first time to actually post a lemon, so I was nervous. Anyway, thanks once again. ^^

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 4

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_~The past can always be hard to face_

_makes__ you wonder if you were mistaken. . ._

_To look back on one's life only to see_

_those__ certain paths that were, or were not taken. . . _

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_Kita thought this over for a moment, "So you're thinking someone only wants us to think Lei is actually dead then?"_

_"That's what we're guessing," Tashiro replied, "But I think you guys need to come down here and take a look for yourselves, and then give your opinions on the situation."_

_ "We're on our ways."_

The impatient policeman, Tashiro Marusa was apprehensively waiting for the four detectives to arrive as he stood at hospital's front, delirious of the endless torrential flow of rain in the least. He'd been a cop for quite some time, and in even in all his years, he had yet to see anything like this... Sure, Tashiro had seen plenty of blood and gore in his profession, but this case had such mystery to it that never seemed to fade out. Everyone was well aware of Heihachi Mishima's conniving ways of course, but did Lei's disappearance somehow root back to the treacherous Mishima...?

He then heard the sound of upcoming sirens, followed shortly by the encompassing colours of light. Two police cars pulled up soon after, joining the many already present in the hospital's immense, fully packed lot. Detectives Kita Okura and Mao Ziyang exited from the first car which had pulled up, followed by Detectives Zhang Han and Masaki Kokan shortly afterwards.

Kita didn't hesitate in the least, ignoring the umbrella offered to her by Mao as she all but sprinted straight toward the awaiting Tashiro at the glass framed doors of the hospital.

"Detective Okura?" Tashiro asked.

"Yes," she replied as she shook his hand.

Tashiro didn't even try to go off the subject, "Follow me, and I'll take you to what's left of Detective Wulong's hallway."

Kita simply nodded in a hesitant manner as she gestured for the three other detectives to follow.

"So, what's the deal with our precious Wulong?" Zhang asked somewhat mockingly. 

Kita turned in an instant to face him, "Goddamnit, Zhang! You really are enjoying this, aren't you?!"

Zhang intrepidly took a step closer to the enraged women, "So what's it to you, Kita? Or is this just about how little Lei wasn't quite as easily seduced as you had planned?"

Both Mao and Masaki could tell Kita was more than likely going to slap him then and there, as Masaki quickly stepped between them to halt it first, "Okay guys, this is not the time for this. We've got a job to do, and that's the important thing, our individual feelings toward Lei are irrelevant."

Mao nodded, as he then looked at Tashiro. "So what information do you have together so far?"

"We found traces of blood on the window screening before the detonation, and just like how I mentioned on the phone, the condition of the IV needles indicated Lei was more than likely bleeding, so—."

"You think he was kidnapped?" Zhang cut him off, "Hmp, if you ask me, this could more than likely be a setup."

"How so?" Mao asked, arching a brow.

"Simple," Zhang began, "If I'm right, like I've been saying, then Lei is really working for Heihachi Mishima. What you can bet happened is Lei ripped the IVs out of his arms, splattered blood everywhere, and then planted a bomb in the room before catching a getaway ride from a Tekkenshu, or hell, even Nina or Fury!"

Kita smirked, "If that's true, then how come Lei was discovered missing so soon?"

Zhang returned the same discordant smirk, "Because it was the middle of the night, and Lei figured no one would enter the room. He probably just wanted to give himself a little spare time before the bomb detonated so he could be clear of the explosion for sure, and then we would all think he was supposedly dead."

No one said anything for a moment. Zhang was truly a smart-ass, but he still had a pretty good theory at that, so no one had the will to argue in this sense, not even Kita.

"I wonder..." Mao stuttered, debating on letting the wrong words slip, "I just don't know; but I'll tell you this at least, Lei is either a lot dumber than we originally thought, or a lot smarter..."

^*^*^*^*^*

_"Well, what of Bryan Fury and Bruce Irvin now, Detective Wulong?"_

_"It-it's true... they have been dealing drugs, as well as smuggling for Kazuya's men."_

_"I can't believe this! How could this go on so long without our knowledge?! Do you have the location?"_

_"Yes, I do."_

_"Well, what are we to do then, you're in charge?"_

_"We-we're going in tonight to discontinue this... there's no other alternative..."_

Lei's eyes suddenly flashed open, oblivious to his surroundings for the time being. He groaned as he tried to sit up, a nearly throbbing headache ringing through his head. He looked around, realizing he did in fact know his whereabouts; this was his hotel room.

For a moment, Lei just sat somewhat dumbfounded in attempted recollection. He felt dreary; drugged. His body ached in more than one way, bruises and scabbed, deep scratches running from the base of his hips, down to his lower thighs reacting in a searing pain there, and elsewhere when he tried to move them. Also present was a certain olfaction; sweat, salted.

The bewildered detective was near standing on the side of the bed, when he swiftly collapsed back down a split second later. It hit him then and there.

"B-Bryan..."

This honestly had to be the first time Lei had referred to him as such... in over twenty years, that is... In this age, he had always obtained to use 'Fury', or just 'thing', _rival_, but now...

"Bryan...?" Lei had realized by now that their actions the night before had obviously not taken place here, in Lei's hotel room. He never did find out, come to think of it. The startled Chinese abruptly stood up, and oh how it hurt like hell, but he ignored the pain for the time being. He glanced down at the automatic clock. _8:13 a.m._He also noted at this time that he was fitted in his own pair of black slacks; the same ones he had fought in at the tournament.

Lei stood temporarily, almost in a transfixed daze in reminiscence to what had taken place only a few hours or so ago. Why...? Why had Bryan done this to him...? Lei felt utterly used; like a toy of bliss. Apparently, Fury had taken his pleasure, drugged Lei once more, and then dropped him off. But if this was all so, why hadn't Bryan eliminated Lei once through with him? Or was he...?

"What the hell was wrong with me?!" Lei suddenly exclaimed as he sat back on the nightstand for support. Lei couldn't lie though, nor blame it on the effects of the narcotics, or anything else. He had wanted it just as much as Bryan had; falling as no more than a victim to his own lustful realizations, just as before... so Lei perceptibly couldn't refer to this as rape in the least. Besides, Lei couldn't have denied his condition, if he had of refused Bryan's advances, he undeniably would have been forced in a more than likely sadistic manner.

The only question for the time being was; what was Lei Wulong to do now? Simply forget the encounter altogether? No. There was no way he would, or could do this. He was worried though, vexed at the possibilities should anyone find out. It was obvious Lei himself wouldn't tell anyone, but would Bryan? Was he going to perhaps blackmail him, or something? Talk about the worst thoughts one could have on their mind. If Lei thought his honour was at loss before, he could only imagine what would happen now... 

Lei had broken so many codes the night before, he very well may have set a new record, and the consequences for this would go past a simple suspension period, he would hereby be stripped of his title and thrown into jail, no doubt about it... Actually, in his homeland, capital punishment was a very good possible penalty as well...

Also, it was rather obvious to Lei that more than just a few people would want to know how, and where he had vanished to from the hospital. What was he supposed to say? That one minute he was peacefully asleep in his hospital room, and the next he woke up in the hotel? Not many would buy this explanation, especially Zhang. Hell, Lei knew he wouldn't believe such a thing. But what was he supposed to say then...?

Lei knew the longer he waited to inform everyone of his presence, the more suspicious he would look, so without further consideration, he reached his right hand shakily for his cellular on the nightstand. He chose to dial Kita Okura's number, since he figured she would be the easiest to talk to.

"Hello, Detective Okura speaking."

"Kita?"

Kita nearly dropped her own cell phone then and there. "Le-Lei...?"

"Yes," he replied.

"What – where the hell have you been? Where are you?!"

"I'm in my hotel room, Kita," Lei assured, "Though I-I don't quite know how I came to be."

"Just stay there," Kita ordered, "Mao and I will be there shortly."

Lei then heard the dial tone soon after, as he flipped the phone's base up. Now this sure was superb... Though Lei was thankful Kita had only obtained for her and Mao Ziyang to come to his aid for the time being.

Still... he could not halt the visions, nor eradicate them from his mind. Visions of Bryan Fury, as well as feelings; emotions. Lei was hurt, emotional damaged, or even corrupted by this, just like he had been all those years ago... But why was this if he didn't care? Simple. He did. He had to find Bryan, somehow... Or would he instead find him first...?

*^*^*^*

"Mr. Mishima?"

"Ah, Dr. Abel," Heihachi greeted as he met the doctor at the metalled doors to the Mishima Labs, "I trust the test results from your bio weapon were a success," he had stated this, not questioned it.

"That is correct," Abel replied with an evil grin plastered to his face.

"And what of your 'other' creation?" Heihachi asked.

"I take it you mean Bryan Fury?"

The Mishima nodded.

"Hmm," the doctor thought momentarily, "He still has not been located, though he is well within our range. There's no way he is getting out of Tokyo, much less Japan. We just have to make sure we get a hold of him before Boskonovich."

"Very true," Heihachi agreed, "I have sent my men in reference to Yoshimitsu's Manji Clan, I have a good feeling he is with them."

"And what of the investigations?" Abel asked as he arched a brow behind his red plated goggles. 

"Leave Detective Wulong and the others to me," Heihachi spitefully replied, "And speaking of him... Did you hear about what happened at the local hospital on the news?"

Abel nodded as he and the taller man continued to walk through the lab, "Yes, I did."

"Well I'm starting to get the idea that Fury was behind this. I think he has perhaps formed a truce with the stubborn detective, judging from what I saw through the Tekkenshu's cameras."

The doctor looked somewhat puzzled, "You think Bryan is trying to get the detective agencies on his side? Hmp, I don't see how that could happen; he's one of the top ten most wanted criminals in the world today."

Heihachi gestured that he agreed, while casually stoking the fine hairs on his chin, "Still, my intuition tells me that Lei Wulong may know something, and if he does, he must be eliminated immediately."

"Very true," Abel responded, "Though I don't see why that irritating Detective Wulong would listen to Bryan anyway, you remember what happened during the third tournament with them. They nearly killed each other. I've never seen two people express such a burning hatred for one another, not even Kazuya and Lee."

"Hmp," Heihachi smirked, "It still doesn't matter, for neither Bryan, nor Lei was able to make it past my bloodline, and I must say that was the prettiest picture I had seen since Lei last fell to Kazuya in the second tournament," he then snickered. 

"I still think Bryan could have gotten further, perhaps to the final round if it hadn't been for his loss of strength," Abel beamed, "And besides, I think you can agree we have Lei Wulong to thank for Bryan's manifestations in the first place."

Heihachi nodded, "True, but what I also know is I've had enough with that incompetent Wulong for the past two decades, and my sons can actually agree with me there. I think it's time to finally put an end to him."

*^*^*^*

Lei had just gotten out of a rather hasty shower, as he heard the apparent knock on his hotel door. He sighed with a deep breath as he went to answer it.

"Who is it?"

"Lei, its Mao and Kita, open up."

Lei then undid the chained locks to his door, which also made Lei realize that even though he was on the third floor of the hotel; Bryan had obviously not exited through the door.

"Oh Lei," Kita said somewhat dramatically as she threw her arms around him, uncaring of the fact that she was drenching the sleeves of her blouse in Lei's freshly washed hair.

"Glad to see you, Lei," Mao smiled politely, "But now it's time to answer some long-overdue questions."

"I'll try," Lei indifferently replied, "Though I'm still pretty... lost in all this."

"So you're saying you know nothing about the bomb?" Kita asked.

"Bomb...?" Lei's raven brows furrowed at this remark, "What bomb?"

"The one that went off in your room fifteen minutes or so after your disappearance," Mao stated.

Lei gasped slightly, "No... I-I don't... How bad was it?"

"Not too bad," Mao replied, "But bad enough to wipe out half of the hallway and kill three people."

"And-and you don't know who did this?" Lei asked, hopefully wrong about his assumption.

"That's what we're asking you, Lei," Mao declared, the hint of suspicion ringing all too clear through his voice. 

"I really don't remember too much," Lei stuttered, "I was drugged."

Kita suddenly had a look of concern on her face as she reached her dainty index figure for Lei's lower lip, "What happened, it looks like your lip was busted? It's all swollen..."

"Hmm," Mao thought for a moment, "Well I can tell that you honestly don't look like you're feeling too good, but we still need to head straight down to Tokyo Headquarters to clear up a few things. The others don't even know you're here, much less alive yet. We wanted to confirm that it was indeed you on the phone and that you were safe first."

"As long as I don't have to go back to a hospital, its fine," Lei sighed. 

"But really," Kita continued, "You're saying you have _no idea who could have done this to you?"_

"N-no, I don't."

Mao looked deep in thought, "What I don't get is why the hell they would just drop you off here like this then? Lei, even if we do believe you, this is damn suspicious. Hell, Zhang even had the idea you were with Fury or something."

Lei's eyes seemed to widen at this declaration as he let out a stifled gasp.

Kita noticed this, "Yeah, that's the same thing I thought about his allocate crap."

"But don't fret, Lei. We _will_ find out who is behind this, as well as everything else. _Everything_."

^*^*^*^*

_I already know Lei will be looking for me. If he tries to interfere; he will die. I know he must be angered, and that I've hurt him, though he has still yet to even consider the pain he has inflicted upon me as well, rather the past, or present._

*^*^*^*^*^*^

A/N: Yepa, now I need to do some serious work on my other fics as well, and I've got some major editing to do on a couple of them. I'm a little better at English now, so I've learned that I have clearly made a few mistakes in my earlier writings (embarrassing...) so I have to read through it all and correct it, which will take a while, and my three other fics are overdue for updates, as well as the new Jin/Hwoarang & Miharu/Xiaoyu fic I'm working on.

C-ya, and thanks for reading!

-Sapphire17


	5. The Past is the Past: Chapter 5

A/N: I put up chapter four kind of fast after three, so just make sure you didn't miss it before you go on to read this one.

Jade queen of the Damned: I know *exactly* what you mean about the fear of you parents walking in to see what you've been writing. Though my mom actually praises it, being the huge Harry Potter yaoi fan she is with her colossal love for HarryxRon, as well as other pairings, my grandmother *was* unaware. One day a couple of months ago, I had just finished that BryanxLei PWP I mentioned, and forgot to lock my door while going to the mall, accidentally leaving it up on the monitor in the *prime* part of the lemon. Well, my grandmother came in my room to collect some laundry, and decided to take a little peek at what I'd been writing... She didn't tell me she'd seen it until roughly a week later, and when I asked her what she thought of it, all she said was "Christina... that was... confusing..." Though she got over it. Funny how my grandmother likes Tekken, though she mistook the pairing I'd written as BryanxLee, rather than BryanxLei, which I thankfully corrected her on. Anyway, so now my whole family knows what I write, and they either praise me or don't care. (Thank god)

Anyway, read on! ^_^

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 5

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

_~The events of one's past are always there_

_always__ able to reveal the truth. . ._

_There may come a time when you may wonder_

_if__ they ever can or will catch up with you. . ._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Lei had just taken a seat in the back of the police car which Mao Ziyang and Kita Okura had arrived in. Thankfully, the rain had lightened up a bit, though considering how Lei's hair was still rather damp from the shower he had just taken, it really didn't make that much of a difference to him either way.

_This is so strange... _Lei thought to himself as he looked up at the sky through the crystal clear glass of the car window. _Tokyo isn't known for this type of weather so frequently this time of year, and yet, since the day of the fourth tournament's end, the sun has still yet to so much as shine..._

Lei couldn't help but feel rather uncomfortable in his current location, which was the back seat, A.K.A 'criminal' segment of the police car. It filled his mind with unsettling thoughts of if he should be forced to sit here again in the future for serious charges; the so-called crimes he had committed the night before with Bryan Fury.

"Hey, Lei?" Mao asked from the front seat as he roared the car's engine to life.

No answer.

Mao turned around slightly and looked through the plate of wires that separated the front and back seats of the car, only to see Lei's glance seemingly frozen out the window.

"Hey, Wulong Lei?" he asked again, a little louder.

"Oh, huh?" Lei replied as he replaced his stare to Mao.

"So, why don't you tell us more of what you can remember of last night," Mao outwardly questioned, though it sounded more like an order.

Lei thought briefly on how he should word everything. "Well, like I already said, I don't remember much due to the narcotics, but it seems to me that this person, or persons, may have wanted me dead, but then decided I wou-would be of more use to them alive..." Lei trailed off in painful realization, comprehending how much sense his off-hand words really did make.

Kita looked at Mao and nodded, before speaking up herself, "That's the same thing I thought, Lei. The question is; who was it?"

"It sounds to me like you may have your own little fan club going on, Detective Lei," Mao jokingly spoke.

"I more than likely doubt that," Lei replied with a sigh, "My name has been one only spoken in shame or ridicule for the past few months now."

Kita decided to change the subject, another one quickly crossing her mind. "Oh yes, and we have also uncovered more information on Heihachi Mishima's connection to Bryan Fury."

Lei's glance all but shot straight from the glass window, and back to Kita. "What did you find out?"

"We found out the secret lies with Dr. Abel, who as you know is the head of Mishima Labs. Fury either has, or knows something vital to their work, and whatever it is, Heihachi is nothing short of desperate to obtain it."

_"Well let's just say I have the key to putting a halt to all of this, and Heihachi wants it to forbid its use in this happening." _

"The bio-weapon..." Lei stiltedly muttered in a barely evident voice after having the brief flashback of Bryan's words.

"What was that?" Mao unerringly asked.

"Oh, nothing," Lei hurriedly assured. If no one else knew this information, then everyone else would obviously want to know where Lei had gotten it from. He figured he could bring up the issue in a more casual, and questionable matter later on, perhaps after doing some more research on the issue himself, though he knew all too well where this usually seemed to get him in the end...

"Ah yes," Mao began after remembering something himself, "This case just keeps getting stranger and stranger..."

"How so?" Lei asked.

"Julia Chang disappeared last night from her hotel after you did from the hospital around 4:00 a.m., only she didn't turn up."

"What?!" Lei exclaimed.

"Uh huh," Mao nodded with a sigh himself, "We're still pretty much clueless on this issue for the moment, but we can more than likely bet Heihachi has something to do with this too... She did, after all, do temporary work in the Mishima Labs."

Lei's eyes had yet to cease their widened appearance. Had Bryan done this? And even more so, if he had, what had he done to Julia? Lei did _not _want to even consider this... But wait, there was no way it could have been Bryan who was responsible for this, for Lei specifically remembered being with Bryan at, well, wherever they were at the time. Thank god for that... 

But still, what was going on? What was Heihachi up to? The mystery just kept mounting, seemingly by the hour at this rate. First Kazuya and Jin vanish right after the tournament's end which in turn, had no announced victor; then Lee Chaolan disappears after never making it to the airport, and now Julia Chang? Come to think of it, no one was ever able to track down what had become of Nina Williams following the tournament, either...

"I don't like this, not at all," Lei murmured.

"And I assure you that no one does," Mao replied as the car came to a halt in front of the International Headquarters. 

Lei abruptly tried to open the door, anxious to take a look at the case reports, when he realized the door wouldn't open, obviously due to the fact that he was in the unlawful part of the car.

After exiting from the car herself, Kita opened the door for the uneasy Lei who seemed to be pretty apprehensive on doing some research of his own.

"Well," Mao spoke up in a sigh, "Here we go..."

^*^*^*^

Bryan Fury stood in the abandoned department store, hovering over yet another fallen Tekkenshu. He had taken down so many of them he couldn't even convey it to a count. He then bent down and removed the radio device from the head Tekkenshu's belt, abruptly bringing the contrivance close to his face to speak into it afterwards.

"You're so fucking pathetic, you know that?" Bryan mockingly roared into the radio, he already had a pretty good guess as to who would be on the other end of it.

"Well done, Bryan Fury," Heihachi all too calmly replied, "Though I nevertheless don't see why you still refuse to join us in our research."

"I'm not an idiot old man," Bryan rudely hissed, "I know you want me dead, otherwise what the fuck do you call this trash you've been sending after me ever since the fourth tournament ended? I know what you want from me."

"Yes," Heihachi efficiently said, "But I don't see why we can't come to some sort of agreement? You know what I want, and I know what you want. Why not make a trade? I assure you, I am a man of my word."

"Like hell you are," Fury retorted to the scandalous man, "You don't think I haven't learned of what you're up to by now? Why so many fighters have just vanished so suddenly?"

"Hmm, you really are a lot smarter than I thought," Heihachi replied in an amused tone, "Wulong Lei underestimated you, didn't he? It should please you that he shall be meeting his own appointment soon enough, eh?"

No reply.

"That's what I thought," Heihachi snickered to the silence. "See, in joining us, you will not only get what you want, but will also have the chance to finally see the man responsible for your own death put to his. Lei Wulong never listened to you, what makes you even think it would be any different now?"

"My life is none of your damn business," Bryan growled.

"And it's also irrelevant," the older man mocked once more, "We'll have Boskonovich soon too, and when we do, your life as you know it will all but depend on your compliance with Abel and I. You can either gain something from this, or not. Either way I shall triumph in the end, as I always do, so it's your call?"

^*^*^*^

Lei Wulong sat at the finely cut hardwood desk of what was now his office; while he remained in Tokyo, that is. On the desk there laid stacks of paperwork and other various things such as picture profiles of the Tekken Tournament competitors that were available, as well as any information relating to Heihachi Mishima and his inexplicable labs.

Lei had just had one wonderful time in questioning, and felt like he could take no more... It was all too clear to him that hardly anyone, rather on the Japanese Force or his own, believed him. Especially after his recent failures of the like.

He looked up from the folders he held as the telephone on his desk rang. According to the flashing light engraved on the phone, this call was from inside the headquarters.

"Hello?" Lei asked into the base of the black office phone.

"Lei, this is Ziyang Mao. It looks like this case is still getting bigger."

"What do you mean?" Lei asked in curiosity.

"It seems we have yet two more competitors from the past Tekken Tournament that have disappeared."

Lei's eyes involuntarily widened in tune to this declaration. "Who...?"

Mao sighed into the phone before speaking up. "Steve Fox and Hwoarang."

"I don't understand this," Lei agitatedly replied.

"Yes, and it seems these fighters keep vanishing before they even have a chance to leave Japan, for none of them have, and those who have attempted are the ones who seemingly disappear first."

"We both know Heihachi Mishima has to be behind this," Lei declared, "Damnit, we have to do something about this..."

"And we're going to try, that's what we're here for. This is why we're notifying the remaining competitors from the fourth tournament what we know of, and hopefully we'll find that there are indeed some remaining at that..."

Lei didn't reply, he was frozen at the possibilities... there were so many, most of them terribly horrid...

"And you also know what this means, Lei," Mao continued, "This means whoever this is will be after you as well, and probably is. This could really explain a lot..."

"I understand," Lei assured.

"Well, guess I'll see you at lunch," Ziyang replied.

"Bye," Lei then hung up the phone, still in a daze.

He then continued to look through the various papers somewhat hurriedly shortly afterwards. Lei had a terrible feeling; a feeling like this colossal mystery was one big countdown; a clock that was indeed winding down with a deadline... one closing in dangerously at that... He jumped faintly at the sudden phone ring in his office, only he came to realize shortly afterwards that it was actually not the headquarters' phone on his desk, but his personal cellular still strapped to his belt. Lei quickly looked through the office windows, noting immediately that anyone who had this number was present in the building...

"Hello, Detective Wulong Lei speaking," Lei hesitantly asked.

"Why, hello my Lei."

Lei gasped, nearly dropping the small silver plated phone in his grasp as he restrained a startled jump. "Bryan..."

"That's right."

Lei was at an utter loss for words, though he sure had plenty of them he swore he would say earlier that morning. His brows quickly narrowed as he turned away from the transparent glass so as not to be seen by anyone else. "What the fuck are you trying to pull?" Wulong harshly whispered, unconsciously afraid of what the reply would be.

"You have all the questions; I have all the answers. Meet me tonight at seven sharp at the old inn outside downtown, you know which one I'm talking about. Don't even try to tell, or bring anyone along, or I will know, and Heihachi will get you first..."

"I don't—" Lei stopped as he heard the sudden dial tone. "Shit..."

"Well well well, how's it going, Detective Lei?"

Lei abruptly turned toward the office door to face Zhang Han, who had just entered.

"What do you want, Zhang?" Lei sighed, his eyebrows still narrowed like before, though they always remained this way in Han's presence.

Zhang smirked in a deviously rude manner, "I want the truth."

"The truth?" Lei replied causally, "I don't know what you're getting at."

"Oh I think we both know the answer to that, Wulong. You're up to something, and you've been up to something for quite some time. I know it, and everyone else does too, even those who don't have the guts to accuse you."

"I don't have time for this, Zhang," Lei declared insolently with a sigh, "I hear this from you non-stop. You won, alright?! I admit it! You, Zhang Han, helped to ruin my reputation and taint my honour as I knew it. You also have Arisa, so what the fuck else do you want from me?!"

"Ooh, touchy now, aren't we?" Zhang mocked, "And you know what I want. You're a cowering liar, and that's all you are. You're a horrid excuse for a detective, and your life is just one big fuck-up like your career. You may have fooled everyone else at one point, but you never fooled me."

Zhang instantly saw as Lei raised his hands, which had formed into sharp figures, the kind Lei was well known for striking with. "Nah ah ah," Zhang laughed as he pointed to the glass, gesturing his glance toward the number of curious people outside who had their eyes on Lei, Masaki and Kita included.

After seeing this himself, Lei lowered his hands, growling as he walked toward the door and roughly pushed Zhang aside, who was grinning all too spitefully.

Kita watched as the angered Lei walked toward the front doors of the building, her glance then finding Zhang Han who still stood at the doorway to Lei's office. She sighed as she made her way over to him in a flustered amble.

"What did you say to him this time, Zhang?" Kita ordered.

"Merely the truth; how his life is one big fuck-up like his career, you know, the usual," Zhang smirked gloatingly before turning back around to re-enter Lei's office.

"And what are you doing in here now?"

Zhang turned his head back. "I just want to have a look at whatever Wulong has been looking at, then I'm off to my lunch break."

Kita simply nodded, not wanting to get him started again, this time on her, as she walked back over to Masaki who had a look of curiosity on his own face.

Zhang Han smirked with a grin while he shut the door to Lei's office, locking the door as he pulled the blinds shortly afterwards. He whistled as he began looking around the confines of the office for any evidence that could be used against Lei. Zhang just knew there had to be something...

So this was what he did; he continuously looked around the room, in the desks drawers, in the metalled cabinets; everywhere. He even checked the record on Lei's office phone which lay upon the main desk, but it had turned up clean. Zhang noted there were a few things he couldn't get into without a key, and he figured this was where Wulong was most likely keeping what he wouldn't want other eyes to see. He knew he had to hurry though, or everyone would start to get suspicious of what was _really taking him so long in Lei's office._

"Hmm, I wonder what's in here," Zhang spoke as he removed a small, steel box from the bottom row of the cabinet rack on the far side of the wall. Zhang chortled to himself, wondering how long it would in fact take Lei to realize that Zhang had gotten his keys off of him as he had last exited through the office door...

Han sat down at the wheeled-chair in front of the hardwood desk centered in the office room, crossing his legs at his ankles atop it as he opened the steel box in his lap. It appeared to be just a bunch of old papers, along with a few assorted items like an old badge, and pictures.

Zhang removed a few things, first taking a look at the pictures that were on the bottom of the collection of items. One was a picture of Lei receiving some award from when he was once the number one detective of his time. He was younger and apparently much happier back then... Zhang then looked at the next one, a picture of Jun Kazama. He couldn't help but laugh at yet another one of Lei's failed conquests of the like. He then came upon a picture of some African man that he didn't at all recognize. He turned the picture over. "Bruce Irvin? Who the hell is that?" the detectives brows furrowed, for whoever he was, he was wearing a badge signaling he was indeed on the Hong Kong International Police Force at one time, or another. Come to think of it, there _was _something strangely familiar about this name...

Zhang then came upon a picture that _definitely captured his full attention... "No fucking way..." It was a picture of Lei Wulong, with his arm around none other than Bryan Fury... Zhang turned the fading picture over to perhaps catch a date, or at least some form of information. "Twenty-five years ago...?" In the picture, both Lei and Bryan seemed to be youthful, and happy. Both of them wearing a badge, just as this Bruce Irvin had been._

"I don't know what the fuck this is, but I sure as hell intend to find out."

^*^*^*^*^*^

A/N: I guess I don't have much else to say this time other than please review! ^_^;


	6. The Past is the Past: Chapter 6

MoQuake3Area: LOL! I hope everything works out for you; I know my grandmother wasn't *especially* thrilled when she caught the first glance at the PWP on my monitor... though she was a little glad to find out it wasn't BryanxLee I'd written, and BryanxLei. She said "I would have figured Lee to be paired with Kazuya?" LOL... maybe this does run in my family after all. I found out a week after she'd seen it while I was trying to sleep and I suddenly heard her exclaim "It's because she's in her room trying to find out which of those guys fucks who in the ass!!!" Of course I jumped out of bed to find out what was going on, and that's when my grandmother told me she'd seen it, and when I corrected her on how it wasn't Lee, but Lei, she replied "He _would_ be the one to get fucked by that guy..." Seesh, my family amazes me...

Jade queen of the Damned: Thanks for the advice at livejournal! I actually wasn't expecting so many people to see those entries, but it seems more have than I expected. lol. Oh, and about the 'pairing clash thing', what happened was I basically stated KazxLee and BryanxLei were my favourite pairings, and then JinxHwo third, and somehow a few people took this as their queue to dish JinxHwo, saying I was their inspiration on how "JinxHwoarang sucked and was overrated and overused." That's what got a few mad at each other while I stayed out of it, but frankly, I don't see where the heck they got the idea that I thought JinxHwo sucked just because they're my third *favourite* pairing? I actually have a lot of pairings I like too besides the ones I've even mentioned in my fics thus far, like JinxLee, StevexHwoarang, LeexHwoarang, KazuyaxJin, I mean, I just like a lot of pairings, the only reason I guess I began to like KazxLee and BryanxLei more is because Lei and Lee are my favourite characters, when I'm guessing most of the people whose favourite pairing is JinxHwo, that either Jin, Hwoarang, or both are their favourite characters.

LOL. And I know a couple of those anti-Hwoajin people I received praiseful e-mails from are reading this too, but they'll get over it, especially since I already told them they were wrong about their assumptions. 

And I admit this probably is a long chapter, but it's the only way I could get everything to fit right. Anyway, sorry about that, and read on! ^_^

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 6

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_~It's frequently been said_

_how__ the past is the future's key. . ._

_With so many things to be unlocked_

_but__ are you afraid to see. . .? _

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Damn that Han Zhang," Lei muttered with his arms folded as he stood outside the police headquarters, leaning against the temperate brick wall. "This guy is determined to make my life more of a living hell than it already is..."

"Wulong Lei?"

"Huh?" Lei turned his head toward the half-open glass doors as Detective Mao Ziyang exited, looking rather curious.

"What are you doing out here, Lei?" Mao asked inquisitively, "You know this is supposed to be your lunch break?"

"I'm not really hungry, Ziyang," Lei replied with a sigh.

"You're not going to have to worry about Heihachi Mishima period if you don't start eating soon; you already skipped the twelve o' clock lunch earlier. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you eat a thing all week," Mao quickly reproached.

Lei simply shrugged in remark, knowing it was all too true. "I think I may walk down to the local bar to have a drink or something, though I'm still pretty skeptical about it. Funny, considering how I _hate_ drugs and cigarettes period, and yet I just got over being a crazed alcoholic."

"You say that like it's a 'bad' thing," chortled Ziyang.

Lei shrugged once more while laughing slightly himself. "What do you think? I mean, you don't think I'd have to worry about Tekkenshu or Bry— Fury popping up out of nowhere?"

Mao's brows furrowed a bit, he caught the stutter, but chose not to question it. "I think you should go ahead down to the bar; it's still day time, there are tons of people everywhere, you deserve a break from this, and it's not like you plan on staying away _too_ long."

"I seriously doubt it, well, hopefully," Lei replied in an obviously incredulous voice, "I'll see you later, that is, unless I somehow do come across something..." he then turned and began to walk off into the distance, while Mao continued to stand as he watched Wulong's back recede into the crowed.

"Yes... I'm sure you will..." 

"What's going on out here?"

Mao instantly turned around to face the agitated Zhang Han, who had a look of awaiting triumph on his face.

"He just left, what, did you want to annoy him some more?" Ziyang rolled his eyes while shaking his head slightly.

"Most likely," Zhang nodded arrogantly, "But let's just say I have... something I'd like to talk to him about that he may find quite interesting."

"And what might that be?"

"I'm sure you'll find out later on," Zhang beamed.

Mao sighed once more, "More about Arisa, eh?"

"Actually, no," Zhang deviously smirked, "But I'm sick of anyone defending Wulong on that issue period. You know everyone agrees with me, and hell, she's half his age, Ziyang."

"Let's just get back to lunch now; I happen to be one of those few people who actually enjoy a bit of food intake every now and again," Mao sighed while patting his stomach before heading a few feet over; back to the transparent double doors.

Zhang followed Mao's lead back into the building shortly afterwards, a spiteful grin still on his face. He would be waiting, and when Wulong arrived back to the station he would have a few conspicuous surprises in store for him...

^*^*^*^

Lei Wulong continued walking along the crowded sidewalks; transfixed in his own state of mind. Disquieting thoughts plaguing him endlessly. Thoughts on Zhang Han, Heihachi Mishima, the disappearing fighters, his honour, the past, the future, and of course, Bryan Fury... Lei could still feel the sweltering pain in his hips, yet he couldn't help but desire more... And he cursed and even despised himself for this too... What was he to do later in the evening, when he met Bryan again? Yes, Lei would meet him at seven that evening, even though Fury hadn't asked, invited, or suggested this; his voice had spoken in one more demanding, blackmailing, ordering. One of those 'Be here, or else...' tones.

But what did the criminal want with the cop this time? Did he want to perhaps explain things to him? Kill him, torture him, fuck him? Lei figured the answer to this was somehow all of the above... Lei avowed himself he wouldn't let this happen, though. The detective would go downtown to get answers, and _nothing more. It was quite clear to Wulong that Bryan obviously knew something; had the missing pieces to the puzzle. And also, what was it Bryan could possibly have? This so-called 'key' to Abel's bio-weapon that Heihachi desired so? There were just so many unanswered questions, and all of them the kind you know you want answered, but fear the answer to..._

"Look out!!!"

"Huh? Whoa!" Lei gasped as he dived, barely missing the hit path of a rather large van that swerved in reaction, nearly causing a wreak to take place in the process.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, you idiot?!" the driver of the white van shouted out the half-rolled down window before continuing on his way.

Wulong loudly sighed as he stood up from the pavement, dusting his dark, black jeans and tank top off as he did. Lei actually wasn't one known for wearing such clothes very often, but he'd recently gotten to the point where he liked to wear not 'too' conservative clothes every now and again. Besides, he hadn't exactly had a good amount of time to slip into much else earlier that morning, and he was tired of how all the younger and less experienced men on the force made it some kind of trend for them to wear the more revealing wardrobes when not on duty, but not the older ones. Though, everyone could undeniably agree Lei did obviously not at all look his age, for his muscles were still so flawlessly defined; his skin so perfectly smooth.

Many people at this time were still giving Lei some sort of gesture, indicating their thoughts toward the detective on how exceedingly careless he had really been to walk right across the street when the sign in front of him had clearly displayed 'Don't Walk' in the classic red illumination. 

"Great..." Lei muttered to himself, "Just great..." This was _really _turning out not to be his day in the least. He continued on his way to the bar, this time trying to pay a little more attention to the path he was walking, which essentially meant it would be best not to think about anything troubling, or in other words: his life...

He turned yet another sharp corner; the bar finally in view as Lei wearily continued to amble towards it. It was a rather large building at that, not a small bar at all. When he reached the street-crossing point, he this time made sure the sign in front of him displayed 'Walk' before sauntering across the dark pavement, though he strangely couldn't help casually glancing back over his shoulder a few times or so. Lei had an uncanny feeling he was being watched by he could only imagine, though considering paranoia was one of his common and rather frequent traits, he chose to ignore the feeling altogether...

As the Chinese opened one of the two doors leading into the bar, Lei instantly noted as every eye in within its confines seemingly fell on him. He glanced around at a few of the many faces, though trying not to get distracted by them as he ventured toward the main bar and took a seat on one of the vacant, burgundy stools. The bartender came over to attend Lei soon after, giving him his own form of 'What is a guy like you doing in a place like this?' glance. "What'll it be?" the tall Japanese man asked.

"I'll have a beer and a shot along with it while I'm at it, I guess," Lei sighed.

He didn't care though, he just wanted to take his mind off of his life, find some way to forget. He knew a time came for everything. A time when he would face both Bryan Fury and Heihachi Mishima again, and most likely death along with them. A time when he would have to make imperative choices. He also knew this would be a very abrupt time at that, most likely that very evening...

"Here you go," the bartender said as he placed the somewhat exquisite glasses in front of Lei, who was resting the side of his head in the hand of his propped up elbow.

"Thanks," Lei replied, not even bothering to look up.

"Lei Wulong?"

"Huh?" Lei involuntarily jumped sorely from all the possibilities of who this really could be. He quickly turned with both of his hands proficiently raised. 

"Whoa there, I didn't mean to startle ya or anything."

"Paul Phoenix?" Lei shook off the jump, "Sorry about that," he apologized, lowering his hands, "I guess you could say I'm a little jumpy today..."

"I can see that," Paul replied as he took a seat on the stool next to the stressed Lei. "So, what is someone like you doing in these parts?"

"Hmp," Lei smirked, "I don't see what that is supposed to mean. I'm a guy here just like everyone else who is."

"Oh you may be a guy alright, but you're not like everyone else," Paul chortled as he slightly shook his head, causing his free-hanging blonde hair to sway.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Lei questioned somewhat rudely.

"Look, I can bet you're wondering why you're getting so many stares, am I correct?"

Lei nodded with a smirk.

"Let's see..." Paul began, "You look pretty clean-cut, you have handcuffs hanging on one side of your belt; not to mention a _gun on the other," the American then gestured his glance down toward the revolver clearly visible on the detective's belt. Paul did however leave out the part on how Lei actually looked quite feminine, and he had only recognized the chance that this was indeed Lei Wulong by his long and thick obsidian ponytail, from where he had been standing by one of the pool tables._

"Ah," Lei simply shrugged. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm actually supposed to meet Marshall Law," Paul then looked down at the black watch on his left wrist, before looking back up, "Strange though... I remember him specifically saying five o' clock, and that was forty-five minutes ago. Then we planned on heading out to the airport to get the hell off this god-forsaken island that is Japan, and back to the US where Forest il' pick us up. Crazy weather we've been having this week too."

"You-you don't know where Marshall could be?" Lei stuttered.

Paul shrugged. "It's not like he's especially known for being punctual or anything, though he has yet to answer his cell phone either now that I think about it..." his brows furrowed.

"Paul?" Lei began, "Have, have you come across anything strange in the past four days since the tournament's end?"

"Actually," Paul thought for a second on the issue, "A couple of nights ago when I was waiting for a bus to take me back to my motel in front of this fast-food joint, a group of Tekkenshu appeared outta nowhere and 'attempted' to kick my ass, but it didn't go so well for them. Several of them also had some kinda dart guns or something, but I was able to knock the guns outta their hands before they had a chance to fire um' at me. I figured one of those fucker Mishimas had to of been behind it."

"And where did you say you were again?" Lei asked.

"Just outside of the crumby downtown area, why?"

"Because that's where I was..." Lei trailed off in a murmured voice. 

Paul caught that Lei obviously wasn't giving him the whole story. "What's going on Wulong? It sounds to me like you know something important you're not sharing?"

Lei exhaled a deep sigh. "Paul, the Tekken competitors have been disappearing... we don't know how many so far, but we think Heihachi Mishima is behind this. These tournaments are never sufficient; they always turn out to be one big trap in the end... I should have known it wouldn't be any different this time..."

"Shit..." Paul muttered, "I should have known there had to of been somethin' up with Kazuya's default win against Jin. That conniving son of a bitch."

"That's right, you did make it to round seven in the finals; congratulations there. I got knocked out in five..." Lei sighed. Actually, Lei had never made it further than just above the halfway point in any of the tournaments thus far.

"To who?"

"Take one guess..."

"Kazuya?"

"Bingo," Lei sighed once more, "And I swear he had it all planned out too, though I think holding my hair from behind while incessantly punching my face was pretty damn cheap. The match was at least thankfully called before he had a chance to crack my spine in half, as I think he had intended to." Kazuya detested Lei Wulong, and had ever since they had met back during the second tournament when Lei had interfered with his life on more than just a few occasions. 

"Ouch," Paul shuddered, "Kazuya really is a fucker, and I'm still confused as hell on how he's alive. People just don't live after being thrown over one-hundred feet into the mouth of a volcano, though I guess all that devil-gene crap has something to do with it."

Lei simply shrugged, now in depressing reminiscence of his performance against Mishima Kazuya in the first place. _I guess Jun was right... you never want to turn you back to Kazuya... _For this is what Wulong had done during the match.

"You seem different today, Wulong. Usually you have such a sense of humour and you're always crackin' jokes?"

"I just don't know anymore," Lei replied indifferently, "I just haven't been myself period for the past couple of months now that I think about it." 

"Ah well, oh, and Law had quite some time with that Bryan Fury fellow you hate so much, but hey, at least he won, eh?" Paul spoke.

Lei's raven brows furrowed; he hadn't heard of this yet. Heihachi had never released the match records. "Bryan lost to Marshall?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Paul questioned in a smirk, "And hearing you call Fury 'Bryan' makes me imagine Hwoarang calling Kazama 'Jin', as in, it doesn't happen."

"I don't see why it even makes a difference," Lei quickly retorted, "It is his name, after all."

"True," Paul replied, "But it's still dishonourable; especially to archrivals."

"Well Fury always addresses me as 'Wulong', which is my name?" Lei argued.

"But he doesn't value honour. For him to call you 'Lei' would mean something had changed his mind to where he does value his honour in your presence."

Lei knew the conceited Paul was right, and was actually rather surprised to hear such intelligent form of speech coming from his mouth. "What do you know about the fight between Fury and Marshall?"

"Actually... Law got a pretty good beating at first, but he said Bryan suddenly gave out for no apparent reason; like he was in pain, yet pain Marshall himself hadn't inflicted on him, err something like that."

"Wha-what...?" Lei murmured.

Paul nodded. "Yeah, probably stoked up on drugs if you ask me, but that's what drugs always cost you in the end — pain."

"I-I don't really want to talk about this anymore..." Lei trailed off as he hocked down the full shot in front of him, running his fingers back through his cascading bangs as he did so.

"What? You had a bad experience with drugs in the past err somethin'?" Paul nudged, basically asking if Lei himself had ever used, or dealt drugs.

"Of course not!" Lei shot back, "It-it's just... haunting memories of those who did..."

"Yep, these people never realize how much their own actions can effect the lives of those around um'," Paul assured, "Though in Marshall's case with Fury, I'd say it turned out for the better," he laughed, but quickly noted soon after that Lei was clenching the fist of his far hand to the point where the knuckles were turning white; he had obviously been angered by something Paul had said, so he decided to change the subject. "Listen, it's been great talking with you and all, but I think I better see what I can do to find Marshall. I swear if one of those shit Mishimas has done anything to him; I'll kick their ass."

Lei sighed, relieving the pressure of his fist. "I'll put in word that he's assumed missing, though I don't really think it's such a good idea for you to—"

"I can take care of myself," Phoenix firmly assured while cracking his knuckles. The blonde then turned around abruptly afterwards, exiting the bar's door in a hastily determined amble of steps.

Wulong looked down at his own watch. He knew where he was going after this... And it _definitely _wouldn't help him out to face Fury while drunk in the least, so he chose to quit while he still could. And what had been up now with this new information Paul Phoenix had provided? If Heihachi was indeed behind the recent competitor disappearances, had he gotten Marshall Law now as well? And what was up with how Paul had been in the exact same area as Fury and the Tekkenshu? Bryan couldn't possibly be helping Heihachi collect the fighters now, could he? And of course... what was the real story behind Bryan and Marshall's match? Sure, Law was an excellent fighter, not to mention, he had made it further in the tournaments than Lei himself had in both the second, and fourth tournaments, but Lei still found it hard to believe Bryan would lose quite so easily...

_"Bryan suddenly gave out for no apparent reason; like he was in pain, yet pain Marshall himself hadn't inflicted on him."_

"I have to find out about this," Lei assured himself. "I'm not letting this slip into digression this time..."

^*^*^*^

"So, where has little Wulong Lei gone to this time?" Heihachi asked into the costly microphone of his headset.

"Gone to get drunk, apparently," the other person laughed.

"It's all for the better," Heihachi fiendishly replied, "Just make sure you take care of him tonight like we planned. But remember, I don't want him dead just yet, so if you intend to shoot him, which I do encourage, just don't make it anywhere vital."

"Hell, what makes you think I'd ever pass up an opportunity to shoot the guy? Especially when I get more than just a lofty amount of money out of it," they grinned.

"Yes, money is the key to having power, though still insignificant to that of my own overshadowing strength or that of the devil gene," the Mishima seriously assured, "Now, you know what to do; and do _not fail me."_

Hang up.

^*^*^*^

"This is ridiculous," Lei muttered to himself as he came up upon the old inn; the same one Bryan was supposedly staying at. "I'll be lucky if this isn't just a trap."

Wulong wasn't scared though, not at all. The Tekkenshu were known for having less than perfect aim at times, while he himself on the other hand was a dead shot. This assumption brought Lei back to the same repetitive question. Was Bryan Fury indeed working for Heihachi Mishima? If so, then why did it appear the elder Mishima was ever after Bryan in the first place? Could it have been a setup...?

As Lei made it closer to the building down the trashed and deserted street, he suddenly came to realize he had subconsciously ensured his fully-loaded gun in both hands. This was most likely for the better, but hopefully he wouldn't have to use it on Bryan. Lei very well knew there were a few spots where Fury could be vulnerable if precisely shot. But still... the truth was, the detective had no true intention of actually doing this...

The irresolute Lei continued his amble toward the building, the clouded sky becoming a darker shade of fluently tinted rainbows as the sun began to set in the distance. Finally, he reached the point where he could go no further; this was it.

Without further hesitance or consideration, Wulong gradually stepped toward the inn's front, now wondering which one of the doors would lead him to Bryan, or possibly something else... This was ludicrous. Lei had been in many situations like this before, more so than he could even count, so why should he be afraid now of all times? This was when he began to turn the doorknobs on various doors, progressively moving down the line as he did so. So far, they had all been locked. Lei was really hoping he wouldn't have to attempt instead going down the row of doors kicking them in, but he would result to this if he had to.

The aggravated Chinese sighed one last time as he reached the last door and turned the knob; it was unlocked... Lei fully opened the creaking door in a slow motion as he took a glimpse at what lay within. He could barely see a thing. Wulong left the door behind him fully open to emit what light there was outside into the room as he tentatively stepped further into its shaded confines. It didn't seem like this was a small room at all from what Lei could tell as his eyes began to adjust, and it even seemed like there were other doors, made visibly evident by their darker shade clashing against the shadowed white wall surrounding them. The detective squinted and made out the light switch on the wall. He then reached his left hand out to it, though finding soon after no light came to fill the room in the least.

He continued to make his way further into the room's confines ahead of him, until he was sure he had reached the middle of the room, his eyesight adjusted enough to where he could make out a bed, a night stand, and a few other things around him. Suddenly, a loud slam was heard causing Lei to jump; the light that had filled the room before abruptly vanishing as Lei hastily turned around and ran back down the path he remembered led to the now shut front door he had entered through... only to find it seemingly locked once he reached it...

"What the hell...?" Lei whispered, his breathing becoming evidently loud and rapid.

"Drop the gun, now."

Lei heard the loading of another gun behind him shortly afterwards... he did as he was told, and dropped the gun he held to the floor. "What do you want with me this time, Bryan?" Lei said rudely in a fearless tone, the now apparent light filling the room from the fluently lit candles from behind.

"Like I said, you have all the questions, and I have all the answers," Bryan seriously replied, "Now, turn around."

Lei didn't hesitate and swiftly turned around to face Bryan Fury. "Then what's going on, Bryan? Where are all the Tekken competitors disappearing to? What is that mad man doing to them?!"

"You're right about it being Heihachi who is behind the recent disappearances, Lei," Fury affirmed, "Though I still would have figured you to be smart enough by now to learn it _always _goes back to his science in the end."

Wulong's eyes widened slightly in tune to this, he finally had a good idea as to where this was going...

"He's planning on putting his bio-weapon into action soon, and let's just say he only settles for the best test subjects."

"What?!" Lei exclaimed.

Bryan nodded, "And it seems he wants you now, as well. He wanted you dead at first for fear of undisclosed information you may have received from me, but he's apparently had a change of mind. I know you most likely think I am the one who set up that little explosion the other night at the hospital. Well, you're wrong."

Lei remained riveted in what he was now hearing... of course he had figured Fury to be the one who had planted the bomb in his hospital room. If not him, then who...?

"See, Wulong?" Bryan began in a spiteful voice, "I'd say you owe me quite a lot."

"I don't owe you shit," Lei harshly shot back.

It was then that Bryan took a few steps closer to Lei, who in turn recoiled backwards slightly. "I've saved you more times than I can even count, Wulong Lei. Even back when we used to work together and you figured yourself some kind of god in everyone's eyes. Bruce thought you were a fucker too, you know. Why do you think he left the force and joined Kazuya, who saved him? You almost got Irvin killed then as well, and of course we both know what happened to me that night."

"Goddamnit Bryan, that wasn't my fault!" Lei avowed, "You two were the ones dealing drugs with Kazuya's men, not me!"

Bryan narrowed his eyebrows in obvious anger. "If I remember correctly, which I know I do, the word 'fire' came from your mouth when the shoot-out began."

"But damnit it wasn't directed towards you and you know this! I-I didn't mean for you to... to—"

"Die?"

"No, I didn't..." Lei murmured while looking at the floor. "And then when you came back... you seemed so different, so cold. I couldn't believe it was you, I figured Abel had put a monster in your body, and nothing more..."

For once, Fury felt his own brows furrow at Lei's statement, which had sounded pretty sincere. "The only difference is I came back more powerful and full of rage than I'd ever been. It seemed you hadn't changed a bit."

Lei turned around and quickly stepped toward the front door; he wanted, no, needed to get out of here. "Let me out now," he demanded, "I'm leaving."

It was then that Bryan's faded grin resurfaced. "Sorry, but I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, dear Lei." 

Wulong didn't even bother turning around, his hand still on the doorknob which he then realized locked from the inside. "Open.. the damn.. door," Lei ordered sternly as Bryan walked up behind him.

"My my, this does bring back memories, doesn't it, Lei? Except it's changed to where you are now the one who trembles before my touch, and not the other way around."

"I said let me out!!" Lei found himself saying all too pleadingly. "Please..."

It was then Lei's head suddenly fell back from Bryan's rapid and forceful grip on his hair, as Fury laughed in his dark voice. "I love it when you show me your fear; it makes you that much more beautiful."

Lei swiftly tried to give Bryan a good elbow to the stomach, but Fury instead caught his arm first, before twisting it painfully backwards.

"I think you know in the back of your mind what you really came here for, Lei Wulong," Bryan whispered into his ear, "You can either choose to submit, or not. Just keep this in mind; your pain only serves to increase my pleasure..."

^*^*^*^*^*^

A/N: Boy, I sure did leave this at a rather lovely point, huh? Sorry if this chapter was too long, but it's the only way it would serve to fit in between the others. Yep, it looks like more of my naughty-writing side is beginning to show through again... -_-;; I also just came back and caught some spelling errors (I fixed them) I hate it when I do that...


	7. The Past is the Past: Chapter 7

Author's note: This chapter contains yet more **highly adult material**, so be forewarned... As in yes, I did write more smutty stuff because, err, I don't know... I hope this doesn't make anyone upset or disappointed...

Koorime: Dang, with the corrections I keep going back to make, it probably would be better if you just took the chapters at the last possible moment... I re-read chapter 6 yet again, and found out I had used the word 'match' two consecutive times in a row, said 'all together', instead of 'altogether', and that I'd used the word 'ample' twice, when it should have been 'amble'. LOL... it was like instead of 'walking' steps, they were 'full' of them... Anyway, I'm really sorry about this; I find it highly embarrassing when I find out I've made grammar & spelling errors of the such. I guess I shall now change the proofreading standards from twice, to at least four times... maybe five... 

*If I do make any more mistakes, I'm *really* sorry and I'll try my best to seek them out and make corrections. Also, the translations for any Chinese words can be found at the bottom. Well, read on. ^.^ 

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 7

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_~Those haunting memories of one's past_

_can__ always be hard to bear..._

_But to bring these fallen events to the future_

_will__ certainly mean despair... _

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Stop..." Lei implored in a whisper, "Please... don't do this to me..." Lei Wulong had never felt so degradingly weak in all his life. Lei realized in saying these few shameful words, he had given Bryan Fury all the victory he needed; accepted defeat. Something he thought he of all people would never do...

Bryan released his forceful grip on Lei's hair, his unfading grin of blatant triumph still present. "When you tell me you don't want this, I already know you're lying. I can see right through that stubborn pride of yours. ...You always were such an arrogant little bitch."

Angered by this comment, Lei struggled harder in a remained unsuccessful attempt to free his arms, which had been twisted insufferably backwards. It was useless. Even though Lei ranked overwhelmingly high in quickness and agility, it seemed the issue of lacking good power and superior strength had always cost him its worth in the end.

"Now, why not make it easier on yourself and just stop with the struggling altogether?" Fury spoke in a tone of mocking sympathy, "I would really hate to make use of those handcuffs hanging from your belt..."

Wulong then felt as his arms behind him were twisted even more so, resulting in an uncontainable squint of pain. It was then that Lei ceased in any form of moment, his head resting forward against the front door bowed in disgrace; the realization that he could not win. If he continued to struggle in such a vulnerable situation, or even worse, dealt Fury a blow of any kind, Lei could only imagine what would be done to him then...

Lei then felt as his arms were released, Bryan's grasp instead finding a quick hold of his pliable, black shirt as the Chinese heard the soft sound of its tearing from behind shortly afterwards. Bryan pulled the band holding Lei's disarranged hair soon after, thus enabling the long and thick strands or raven tinted hair to freely flow along Lei's back and shoulders, some falling to shield his face as Wulong continued to bow his head. 

Bryan's forceful grip then found its way to Lei's arm at the midpoint; grabbing it in an effort to drag the detective away from the door and to the bed, though Lei still refused to fully suppress as he made an effort to recoil his arm.

"Fine then," Fury derisively sighed, his arm slowly encircling its way around Lei's torso in a devious manner, unknowingly to Wulong in his state of supposed reluctance. In a startling quick and fluent motion, Bryan vigorously slung Lei from his current standing position, and straight down to where he fell, his back abruptly coming into contact with the carpeted floor. In anticipation of Lei springing up from the ground, Bryan quickly positioned himself over Lei to prevent this, sitting atop him at the waistline. "If you prefer the floor, then it's your call."

"I-I hate you..." Lei cruelly murmured; his eyes translucently glazed over in an attempt to hopefully restrain any tears from shamefully escaping.

Bryan immediately backhanded Lei across the face following this statement, though instantly regretting his move afterwards. In doing this, Bryan realized he had just shown Lei how much those words had angered him, when they shouldn't have... Not if he didn't care...

Blood now drained from Lei's lower lip, though he still didn't say anything, nor cry out. He wouldn't give Bryan the pleasure of hearing this.

"You don't know anything about pain, Lei," Bryan suddenly whispered, "Nor regret, apparently. And this is what I loathe you for; the same reason so many others did, and do. You don't regret anything you've ever done to hurt anyone. Regret anything you ever did to me, including my death."

"I told you, that wasn't my fault," Lei said once more, almost... pleadingly. "At least... this is what I told myself after so many years of insufferable guilt... That night has haunted me ever since, and god knows I paid for it, though never enough. ...I-I can still remember how I ran over to where you had fallen, even during the shoot-out, but it was already too late... You didn't live long enough to see me cry, how my hands were covered with your blood or to hear how I said I was sorry... or how I said I-I l..." Lei silently trailed off, "It was one of the few times in my life I ever allowed myself to cry..." and right after Wulong stated this, a single crystalline tear streamed down his face as Lei tried to turn his head to the side in shame of it.

Bryan didn't know what to say to this, though his eyes had obviously reframed from narrowed, to furrow. He then did what came on impulse, his mouth instantly finding that of Lei's as he kissed him, violently, sucking the dark liquid that drained from Wulong's lower lip insatiably as Lei winced slightly beneath him. "So... I bet you would like to know the real reason Heihachi is after me, the real reason behind a lot of things," Bryan whispered against Lei's lips, as the detective gave a barely evident nod.

"Lei... I'm dying."

Lei didn't say anything; couldn't say anything. His eyes reshaping from their half-lowered state, to a more shocked, furrowed appearance. 

"It's true," Bryan said upon seeing Lei's expression, "And now Heihachi Mishima seeks me out for the key to completing his research; my body. And then upon realizing my impending death, I knew there were still a few last minute things I needed to take care of," Fury then stoked the side of Lei's trembling face, running his fingers back through the long hair that framed the startled complexion. "Or in other words; I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to fuck you while I still had the chance."

Before Lei could say anything, Bryan forced another kiss to Lei's mouth, his hands sliding further down each side of the beautiful form of the Chinese, until they came upon the clasping belt buckle to his front. Should Fury really do this to Lei, though? Take advantage of him in such a state...? Actually, he would...

"Just do it, Bryan..." Lei whispered.

Even before Lei had stated this, Bryan had already grasped each side of Wulong's partially armed belt at the front, swiftly working it open to grant him full vantage. Lei just stayed still, timidly facing the ceiling as he felt his black jeans slowly pressing down to his thighs, instantaneously raising his hips up to allow Bryan better access to sliding them fully down. Before Fury even had the chance to free himself of his own clothes, Lei leaned up from the floor first, his hands reaching for the clasp on Bryan's well-made snakeskin pants with a slight sense of trepidation. Bryan couldn't help but smirk at Wulong's apparent eagerness, yet still visibly fearful all the same. 

A moment later when the two were stripped free of their clothing, Lei sat further up off the floor on his knees, his arms winding around Bryan's muscular form as he ardently kissed the smooth skin of Fury's chest while a set of hands tangled tightly into his long, raven strands of hair. Lost in the sudden heat, Bryan didn't even notice how he had begun to gradually fall backwards in Lei's embrace, but then quickly came to realize soon after that Wulong was trying to push him to where his back would be the one resting on the floor's surface, and not Lei's own. Swiftly, Bryan grasped each of Lei's shoulders and pushed him, vigorously, causing Lei to recoil to where his back once more fell against the coarse carpet. 

"Don't push your luck, Wulong," Bryan whispered in a seriously strict tone of voice, rapidly spanning Lei's legs apart while pressuring the flat of one of his hands downwards against Wulong's firm torso muscles to keep him unyielding in his current position of vulnerability.

Lei tried not to even so much as hesitate, and parted his muscular legs further in enticement. "Please..." Lei murmured in a pleading voice, "Make the pain go away..." he then closed his eyes which were still slightly narrowed in response to Bryan's last statement, though Lei had honestly gotten to the point where he could really care less as to who the dominant party was. Though new at being submissive, he liked it...

Wulong then let out a sudden gasp; feeling as he was indeed filled with something, only not what he had anticipated.

"I think I'll go ahead and stretch you some first this time," Bryan whispered, though still in an immorally dark tone as he continued to thread one of his saliva slickened fingers into Lei's tight opening, before inserting a second as yet another gasp shook through the shivering form beneath him. Lei couldn't think for the moment, and he didn't want to, either...

Bryan looked down at Lei, the way his eyes were tightly shut, the way his delicate features were flinching and his teeth were clenched, the way his breathing had become so ridged. He was holding it all in. This was when Fury inserted a third finger, hard, as Lei did let out a slight cry. "What's the matter, Wulong Lei?" Bryan critically asked as he began to move his fingers harder, "Too proud to actually show your pain, your pleasure? Or is this also shameful in your eyes? _Dishonourable_?" he spat.

When Bryan didn't receive an answer, he instantly withdrew his fingers, hearing as Lei gave a barely noticeable, yet still evident flustered growl. Fury then wasted no time, and quickly positioned the tip of his hard length against Lei's wet entrance. "Fine, Lei," Bryan whispered... spitefully, "If pain is what you want, then so be it..."

Wulong then braced himself, expecting Bryan to thrust right into him as he had before, though finding soon after, he didn't. The insurgent Fury instead moved with unbearable slowness... Lei silently moaned as he felt Bryan pushing deeper inside of him; wishing for him to do it faster, harder, but still too proud to plead or beg like the wanton bitch Fury apparently took him for. After a couple of agonizingly slow thrusts, Bryan suddenly pulled out to where he was barely still within Lei at all, staying perfectly still to the point where his actions could be considered torturous... Through impatience, the Chinese made an attempt to thrust his hips forward, though Bryan just pulled back even more as he did so.

"Qing..." Lei bleated with humiliation, "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm trying to help you retain what's most important you, your honour," Bryan whispered, mockingly evil. 

It was then that Lei finally snapped; his legs ultimately wrapping around Fury's hard torso as he made a quick effort to impale himself hard against Bryan, earning a trifling moan from them both.

"Fuck honour," Lei both breathlessly and harshly whispered. 

Fury grinned. It had taken much less the break Lei Wulong than he had thought. Without warning, Bryan began to harshly thrust into the beautiful Chinese with sudden ferocity, who now moaned high without even bothering in trying to hide the intense pain or pleasure that invaded his body. Suddenly, nothing else mattered to Lei; not his past, honour, pride; the things he had come to respect and value in life so much. 

Bryan's hands ran along the smooth, slick flesh of Lei's sweaty back, tracing down to his hips, raising them further up off the floor. Lei cried out in pain, yet pain he longed to feel. The kind of physical pain he needed to help overshadow the real emotional pain he had been undergoing for so long... After a few more delicious moments, Fury's thrusts had become more forceful, as Lei's efforts in straining his hips to match them had become more desperate. Bryan leaned further down over Lei's supple form, his mouth fervently kissing the slickened skin of Wulong's lower neck and chest. Lei's head then titled back even more so, his sweated hair vastly spread about the floor.

"Bryan..." Lei cried, his nails scratching unbelievably hard into Bryan's back, yet remarkably, they still did not break the flesh... 

It wasn't much longer before Bryan climaxed, his own nails mercilessly piercing into the backs of Lei's already tender thighs as he did. Lei responsively moaned when feeling the hot and thick liquid pouring into him, his own release not far behind as he too came, the sudden dampness sticky between their joined and tangled bodies. 

Then, an awkward silence outside of Bryan and Lei's winded breathing filled the dark, candle lit room. Both of them wondering the same questionable thought. What came now...? 

^*^*^*^

_ Six hours later..._

Lei's eyes suddenly drifted open as he took a glimpse at the total darkness surrounding him, other than a barely evident light filtering through the blinded and curtained window on the near side of the room. Lei then tried to move slightly on the bed he now laid upon, though finding soon after he couldn't. Wulong then came to realize he was not alone, no, not this time; another body pressed tightly against him from behind, with an arm seemingly locked around his waist. Lei was still there, still with Bryan Fury.

Something still felt odd... Lei wondered... _How can anyone's body feel so warm, yet so cold at the same time...? _

Then, the most unsettling of thoughts played in retrospect once more...

_"Lei... I'm dying."_

Lei couldn't help but tense up in remembrance to this. Neither him, nor Bryan had discussed the issue after their last intercourse, for all of those disquieting thoughts had temporarily been pushed from both of their minds during the time. Somehow... Wulong knew Bryan was telling the truth... He couldn't lie that he had wondered scantly on the issue, though, and still did. Wondering if maybe Bryan had told him this just to make him more vulnerable before, which probably was still true, yet Lei still believed the words were as well... Now everything was finally coming together. The disappearing fighters, Heihachi's goal to capture Bryan, and of course, what Paul had told Lei about Fury during their run in at the bar. 

_"Bryan suddenly gave out for no apparent reason; like he was in pain, yet pain Marshall himself hadn't inflicted on him."_

Lei suddenly jumped in a slight motion at the feeling from behind. Bryan kissed Lei's bare shoulder blade, pulling the Chinese tightly closer to him with the arm he held him by. "You're trembling," Bryan whispered.

This was when Wulong abruptly turned over in the sheets to where he laid on his side facing Bryan, only an inch or so between their lips. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Tell you what?" Bryan questioned, his voice derisive.

"You know what," Lei whispered back.

"Because I don't want you to try and interfere with any of this," Fury replied, his hand tracing the delicate curves of Lei's supple body. "Your death would be too much of a wasteful shame in all this."

"It's my prerogative," Lei murmured.

"No it's not; it's mine," Bryan seriously stated, right before pressing his lips to Lei's in a quick motion, the kiss much fiercer than Lei had expected.

A foreign sound suddenly filled the dim room. Lei then tried to pull away from Bryan, though it seemed Fury had no true intention of letting him go. "I have to answer my phone, Bryan," Lei insisted, "If I don't, then the people back at the station will know there's something up for sure."

With an irritated sigh, Bryan did as he was asked and released his grip on the sinuous body. Lei then hurriedly stumbled over to the small light emitting from the frame on his cellular, which was still attached to the belt on his jeans that lay upon the floor. Wulong bent down and nervously took the small phone into grasp, having no clue whatsoever on what to say into it if this was indeed a member of his force or someone else from the Japanese Headquarters, as he figured.

"Wei, Detective Lei Wulong speaking?"

"Lei? Where the hell have you been? It's nearly three in the morning!"

"Duibuqi, I-I was—"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter; just get down here — _now! _We've got trouble that needs tending..."

Lei then heard the sudden, repetitive dial tone, flipping his phone shut soon afterwards with an aggravated sigh, though he then realized he had apparently been asleep longer than he had intended.

"What's the problem?" Bryan asked.

"I have to get back to the station immediately. There's trouble," Lei assured as he began to hastily redress into his ruffled, black jeans.

Bryan then sat up fully on the bed. "There is no fucking way you are walking all the way back there from here. Heihachi's people are everywhere. He's got those damn Tekkenshu working all over the place in disguise. You can't trust anyone."

"Well it's a chance I'm going to have to take," Lei nonchalantly replied. 

"Not if I don't let you."

The detective couldn't see the way Bryan's eyes had narrowed through the dark, though Bryan could see the way Lei's had all too clearly.

"If you refuse to let me out, then the signal from my cell-phone will be traced and then they'll be cops everywhere here in no time," Lei boasted with a smart smirk, "And besides, I'm not walking, I plan on taking a cab."

Without word, Bryan promptly stood from the bed and removed something from the confines of a nearby nightstand shaded amongst the darkness. He then walked over to Wulong, dangling a single key in front of his face which shimmered slightly in the dimness. Lei's hand reached for it, but Fury pulled the key back slightly with his hand first. "Just out of curiosity... how do you know none of those so-called team-mates of yours are not actually working undercover for Heihachi Mishima?"

Lei's eyes widened slightly. "If you know something, tell me."

"I don't," Fury evenly answered, "I'm just asking... 'What if'?"

Lei quickly shook the possibility from his mind, this time swiftly snatching the key from Bryan's hand with amazing rapidity before Fury had the chance to pull it away. "They would have been caught by now," Wulong assured, wondering if he really was certain. Lei then looked down, realizing he had another slight problem to deal with as he removed his torn tank from the floor's coarse carpet surface below him. Before Lei could even turn around to speak up in complaint of the issue, Bryan suddenly tossed another one in Wulong's direction in anticipation, watching as it landed to fold on Lei's shoulder.

There was enough light for Lei to make out that the shirt's colour was obviously white, and not black, as his own had been, but the policeman felt he didn't have the time to argue at all on the matter, swiftly slipping the white tank-top over his head to find it was at least a nice fit. Fully dressed, Lei then made his way towards the front door, unlocking it before turning around yet again. "I'll see you soon."

"You're right, you will," Bryan said. Something palpably present in his voice that Lei couldn't quite make out, but chose to ignore.

"And next time, we actually need fit at least _some_ talking in for a change." Lei then sincerely smiled. A smile Bryan, nor anyone else, had seen on Lei's face in quite some time. Wulong then walked out the door, shutting it behind him as the added light which had briefly filled the dim room vanished once more.

Bryan just stood for a scant moment, staring at the door in the place where Lei had last stood. "Still so intelligently stupid..."

^*^*^*^

Lei sat alone in the back seat of the taxicab, silent as darkness itself. The kind of thoughts; memories, invading his mind that he had put behind him so long ago... Or at least he had thought so...

_"There they are... Bryan Fury and Bruce Irvin..."_

_"Well what do you want us to do now, Detective Lei? If we do fire, then there's always the possibility of risking an injury, or death, upon both your partner, and Bruce?"_

_"We proceed to fire. Not at them though, at the others. And remember everyone, keep your shots low. I have a feeling these may be members of the International Mafia we have been looking for..."_

_"I think you're right... Okay, on your command."_

_"Ready... Fire!!"_

"What have I done...?" Lei murmured while burying the side of his face in his hand. He could remember speaking the exact same four words over twenty years ago... He hadn't since...

"What was that?" the cabdriver asked from up front, looking back slightly as he did.

Lei quickly shook it off. "Nothing..."

"Looks to me like you've got a lot on your mind, if it's not too bold in me saying so," the middle-aged Japanese man shrugged.

"No, it's fine. You're right..." Wulong sighed, not in an annoyed manner, but more in a way signaling his depression. Also, he didn't know how he was going to explain his appearance once he arrived at the station. His lips were noticeably swollen, his skin still sticky with sweat, and his hair a tangled mess, though it thankfully hid a few evident marks on the side of his neck. Lei also noted his walking was apparently no ballet, either, but he knew he could at least pull off footing normally in front of everyone. It just hurt more.

Now trying to push these thoughts from his mind as well, others began to overlap them in result. As Lei continued to silently sit, he couldn't help but wonder about Bryan's statement. The one on how Heihachi had Tekkenshu out everywhere working in disguise; it seemed tangible enough... Lei even momentarily wondered if there was a possibility of the cabdriver being one...

Thankfully, the cop looked out the slightly fogged window to his right to see the police station coming into view.

"Here's you stop, Mr...." 

"It doesn't matter," Lei quickly spoke, right before paying the taxi driver handsomely. 

"Domo," the driver thanked, catching the drift and abruptly forgetting the name-issue altogether as Lei swiftly exited the car and began to walk hastily towards the station's entrance.

As the cab proceeded to disappear into the darkened distance, Lei began to notice how deserted the police station really seemed, though figuring the fact that it was after three in the morning, he couldn't argue. He just would have expected more people to be around if something this 'urgent' really was taking place. The puzzled Wulong then made his way to the glass double doors, finding soon after they were apparently locked, which Lei also found rather strange... He wasted no time, entering a code into a small, silver-plated box to the left of the translucent doors, opening them soon after the code was cleared. 

Once inside, the detective was rather surprised when the absence of anyone else's presence remained persistent. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Lei then looked around to realize how all of the office doors seemed to be shut; all the lights within off. All but one. The last office in the very back. His office...

Lei's brows furrowed in confusion, and suspicion, as he saw the light filtering through the blinds, accompanied by the single pole of illumination that shined on the polished tile, emitted through the cracked open door of his office... 

"What's going on here...?"

^*^*^*^*^*^

A/N: I always pick the weirdest spots to leave my chapters, it seems. This was originally a longer chapter, like the last one, but it would have been 11 pages then, rather than 7, and I didn't want people to fall asleep against the screen. And once again, thank you so much to all of you who take the time and courtesy to review my writing attempts. Since I cut several pages out of this chapter, it probably shouldn't take me as long to have the next one up in result, so I'll try, but now I'm off to watch 'Final Destination II', which is nowhere near as good as the first one, but will serve for my daily dose of DVD, lol! 

~Christina 

_Chinese Translations—_

_Wei__ — Hello (When answering a telephone)_

_Duibuqi__ — Sorry _

_Qing__ — Please_


	8. The Past is the Past: Chapter 8

Author's Note: Oh yay, school is closing in on me again... I start back August 18, and once this happens, I'm worried that my updates will start coming slower than they already do... 

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 8

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_~As the past gets larger and further away_

_the__ future gets more near..._

_A time when all those unanswered questions_

_may__ finally be made more clear..._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Wulong could see the light filtering through the blinds all too clearly as he began to steadily saunter towards his office, his curiosity at its peak. When reaching the office, Lei entered to see things were definitely not as he had left them before... Quickly noting the steel box on his desk top, the startled detective made a quick effort to open it and see if anything had been tampered with. He then realized shortly afterwards he was missing something...

"Zao shang hao, Wulong. Looking for these?"

Lei turned around in a rapid motion, facing the familiar someone with narrowed eyes. "Han Zhang..."

"That's right, Lei," Zhang laughed, dangling Lei's keys in his hand, "I've been waiting for you."

"What the hell's going on, Zhang?!" Lei ordered.

Zhang suddenly removed a small, folded piece of paper from the confines of his pocket. "This is what's going on," Han spitefully spat as he unfolded the paper, revealing it to be none other than the photograph of Bryan Fury and Lei Wulong from over twenty years ago that he had stolen earlier the day before...

Zhang continued to grin. "Maybe you'd like to explain this?"

"You asshole," Lei growled, his temper nearing the crossing point.

"The gig is up, Wulong Lei," Zhang grinned once more, slowly pacing towards the furious Wulong, "I knew you were the traitor we were looking for, and what's more is I know how you're secretly working for Fury, and most likely Heihachi along with him."

"That's not true, Zhang!" Lei firmly objected, "It's true that Bryan Fury was my partner years ago, but this was before your time. We don't speak of it anymore... It's considered shameful to..."

"Tsao that!" Han yelled, "You're finally going down, and then your job is mine you horrible excuse for a detective. Pah, no wonder Arisa dumped you, and let's not forget pretty little Jun," he mocked.

"Jun Kazama wasn't the little angel everyone thought she was..." Lei silently whispered, "You know nothing, just like everyone else..."

"Your excuses are sheer shit," Zhang gloated, "Now, whatever diminutive amount of honour you _did_ have left is at loss. You are a disgrace to our people as we know it. You don't even deserve to share the same burial ground as your father, even considering the revolting detective he was, too." 

"You're so fucking pathetic, Zhang," Wulong spat, enraged as he raised his hands, ready to launch an attack on Zhang. "If you really do consider yourself worthy enough, then you'll fight like a man," Lei then disengaged the gun strapped to his belt, tossing it away to the floor.

"Fine," Zhang shot back, quickly following Lei's example and throwing his own gun towards the ground in the same direction as Lei's, watching it skid across the smooth surface of the polished tile into the corner. "Considering the way your physical condition was following your pitiful defeat in the Tekken Tournament, I don't think I'll have too much of a problem," he laughed.

Han then immediately raised his own hands into fists, soon after making a quick effort to punch Lei in the chest, though Lei rapidly bent backwards, dodging the attack altogether. Wulong then did a back handspring with amazing speed, sending Zhang flying back into an impact against the wall.

"Bravo, Lei Wulong, did Kazama Jun teach you that one?"

"Huh?" Lei rapidly turned his head towards the open door of his large office to see yet another familiar face... 

Zhang promptly stood back up, wiping the blood from his lips. "Mao Ziyang? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I think I should be asking you the same question, Zhang?" Mao smirked.

"Ziyang? Where have you been?" Wulong questioned with inquisitiveness clear in his voice, "I received your phone call, and you said you needed me down here immediately, and that there was trouble that needed to be taken care of?"

Mao deceitfully nodded. "You're right; and I'm afraid you're the trouble..."

"Wha-what?!" Lei exclaimed in disbelief.

"Ha, I knew it!" Zhang declared, full of pride, "I knew you were the traitor we've been looking for, just like I know you've been working for Bryan Fury!"

"Good work, Zhang. On some of your allegations, that is," Ziyang deviously spoke, his voice dark, accompanied by a leering expression on his face as he turned his glance to Lei, "Wulong Lei here has been fucking Fury; or should I say getting fucked, judging from the way he was walking earlier. So yes, I guess you could say little Lei has been working for Fury," he laughed.

Lei didn't say anything... He was frozen stiff, unable to reply or retort to this...

"Ugh... that's disgusting!" Zhang spat as he faced Lei with an unfading sickened look upon his face, "Damn, I never figured you _that_ low."

"I still can't argue that Wulong here is quite the attractive bitch," Mao smiled evilly as he this time turned his glance back in Zhang's direction, "Though... You're wrong about Wulong being the traitor..."

"What...? What do you mean?" Zhang asked, starting to get the full picture.

Mao just laughed in turn, suddenly removing the gun from the pistol harness to his front in a fast motion, and pointing it forward...

Lei and Zhang both gasped, finally realizing the true matter of the situation... "You..." Lei muttered.

"That's right," Mao sarcastically laughed, "I've been working undercover for Heihachi Mishima for quite some time, but you were all such pathetic morons..." he guffawed.

"It was you..." Lei began, his tone full of silent anger, "You were the one who planted the bomb in my hospital room, not Bryan... you-you tried to kill me!"

"And you finally get it!" Mao applauded, "It's a good thing Fury got you out of there, though. Heihachi no longer wants you dead, but alive... He has 'special' plans for you... That's why you're coming with me, once I disable you, that is," he then turned to Zhang, "And I'm afraid you now know too much, so you're going to have to die. Oh well, I never could stand you, either."

"I can't believe this," the bewildered Zhang murmured in disbelief.

"You're not taking me anywhere," Lei affirmed, his voice a cold, harsh whisper.

Mao then raised the gun he held in his right grasp higher, and in Wulong's direction. "That's where you're wrong. Say goodnight..." 

And in an instant, the sound of a gunshot was heard...

But... neither Lei, nor Zhang fell at the sound... Instead, Mao dropped his own gun to the hard floor, falling forward shortly afterwards to land on hardwood desk that the baffled Wulong and Zhang stood behind. 

"What the?!" Zhang abruptly exclaimed. Lei then swiftly stepped forward, watching the blood collect along the smooth surface of the desk.

"He-he was shot in the head..." Lei then looked up in a quick motion, looking past the open door of his office to see almost utter darkness. "Who's out there?" Lei questioned with furrowing brows as he began to walk around the desk and towards the darkness.

Zhang hastily grasped Lei by the arm. "Are you crazy?! How do you know there's not an army of Tekkenshu out there waiting for us?!"

"I don't, but whoever this is could be on our side, and besides, we can't just stay in here," Lei assured.

Zhang then roughly freed Lei's arm, a distasteful look once again on his face. "Whoever said anything about us being on the same side, queer?"

Lei growled, "I'm not a queer!"

"Yes, you are," Zhang ridiculed with a smirk.

Wulong wanted to punch Zhang right in the face to wipe that unfading smirk off then and there, but he felt the presence of someone else beforehand...

"Why not kill him, Lei? I'm sure you could, and I'm sure you'd enjoy it more than you'd think."

"Who-who the hell was that?!" Zhang said, startled. 

Lei, on the other hand, already knew. "Bryan..."

A figure then began to surface in the distant darkness at first, and then closer towards the open door of the office to the point where even the identity of this person became evident to Zhang.

"Holy shit..." Zhang muttered, "It-it is..."

Bryan then came fourth, briefly leaning on the doorframe in a casual manner, a gun in hand.

"It was _you_ who shot Mao?" Han questioned, "How the hell could anyone have that good an aim from over thirty yards away in near pitch darkness?!"

"Bryan...?" Lei murmured, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

"Saving your life, apparently."

"So it's true..." Zhang spoke, accusingly, "You two really are gay!"

In response, Bryan just angrily sighed while raising his gun at the irritating man. If Lei wasn't going to kill him; Fury was. This was when Lei did something that could be considered unexpected, stepping in front of Zhang to block him from direct fire. "Don't. I'm not going to let you do this."

"Believe me dear Lei that getting shot in the chest is not a pretty or pleasurable thing," Bryan unerringly said, continuing to aim the gun, "I suggest you move."

"Didn't I teach you anything?" Lei silently inquired.

"And didn't I teach you anything, Lei Wulong?" Bryan questioned in response, "Teach you that it _is_ possible to kill someone, experience the power of it, without feeling regretful or guilty of it later on?"

"To take a life isn't power, Bryan!" Lei critically assured, "To protect a life, save a life, give life; that's real power..."

"Is that so?" Bryan sarcastically spoke, "Well what about that other saying of yours, the one I always heard from you the most. How 'it's better to die in honour than live in shame', I believe? If this is true, then how do you intend to go on living if this pathetic excuse for a detective tells your little secret from the past several days to everyone?"

It was then that Lei took a step closer to Fury, his eyes distraught. "...Who said I was ashamed...?"

Bryan instantly lowered the gun, his expression readably perplexed as Lei continued to slowly walk towards him without hesitance. Wulong stopped directly in front of Bryan, his arms suddenly folding around Fury in a close embrace. Bryan could feel the way Lei was trembling up against him, and see the way Zhang looked confused as hell across the room. A faint grin found its way to Fury's face, as he quickly grasped his hand into Lei's still-down hair and pulled it forcefully downwards, causing Lei to face him eye-to-eye.

"That didn't sound like something to come from the likes of your mouth, Lei Wulong," Bryan accused.

"I've realized that maybe there are more important things in life to live for than simply honour..." Lei whispered.

Bryan then kissed Lei, fiercely, as Zhang stood petrified and frozen like a human statue in place. Fury broke from the kiss, while Lei was gasping slightly for not having been prepared. "We're leaving," Bryan ordered as he grabbed Lei by arm, instantly dragging him towards — and out the office door.

Zhang, meanwhile, continued to stand in place, staring at Mao's fallen body on the desk once again as the increasing collection of blood on the hardwood desk and floor remained persistent. What was Zhang to do now?

^*^*^*^

"Where's your car?" Bryan asked as he and Lei continued to head for the station's exit, "It won't be much longer before they arrive."

"Before who arrives?"

"The Tekkenshu. We're a couple of the last ones left."

"What...?" Lei muttered in disbelief.

Bryan nodded. "It's just like you said; the whole Tekken tournament is merely one big trap."

"Can't we just inform the police?"

Bryan sighed, "I thought I already explained it to you; most of these people _are working for Heihachi Mishima."_

"Shit..." they then came upon the outstretched row of police cars, as well as other vehicles lining the brick building. "I say we take on of the various police cars," Lei suggested, "Mine's probably rigged with some tracking device..."

"Probably," Bryan agreed as he followed Lei towards one of the many cars in the dead of night, entering on the passenger's side of the selected one soon after. With that, Wulong swiftly turned the key, and hurriedly drove from the parking lot.

"It's a good thing this is Tokyo," Lei stated, "In most of the other cities I've been to the streets would be near, if not deserted at half past three in the morning."

"Do you even have any idea where you're going?" Bryan asked, straight to the point.

"Shi, I do," Lei replied, somewhat uneasy, "I'm going to the Mishima Zaibatsu..."

"No, you're sure as hell's not!" Bryan declared, "I'm not going to let you get yourself killed because of your own stupidity!"

"And I'm not going to just sit and let you watch yourself die!" Lei shot back, "It's not weak to feel life is significant..."

"You shouldn't speak what you know nothing of, Lei," Bryan harshly whispered, "My body must be modified. The only one who is capable of doing this is Dr. Abel, and you know as I do that he is now the head of Mishima Labs and a scandalous man no better than Heihachi himself."

"I don't care... I've got to, and will, do something..."

Bryan growled, "I'm going alone, and don't think for one second that I won't break both of your legs to clarify this."

"Oh, so I see now," Lei began, "You're allowed to inflict harm upon me... yet... I am not allowed to inflict harm upon myself."

"Bingo, Wulong Lei, or to put it in laden terms — you belong to _me," Bryan firmly stated._

They were already at least halfway to the Mishima Zaibatsu, but Lei suddenly pulled over on the side of a dark and deserted street, bringing the car to a complete halt as his foot slammed on the brake.

Lei roughly put the car into park. "How fucking dare you?" Wulong shot out, "Who do you think I am? Your little submissive bitch?"

Fury smirked. "And you figure yourself more?"

"Shut your damn mouth!"

"Mmm, your anger makes you very enticing indeed," Bryan whispered in a dark voice, his fingertips playing with the free-hanging tips of Lei's gleaming ebony hair as he slowly moved closer to the agitated Wulong on the leather seats. Lei didn't say anything, and seemed to let Bryan continue to freely advance.

Bryan suddenly grabbed the back of Lei's neck and forcefully pulled the Chinese forward to meet him in an intense kiss that Lei didn't even try to refuse, though the instant Lei opened his mouth, Fury pulled away to put a couple of inches or so between them. "So Lei, if you're really no longer ashamed, then what are you more reluctant of? Being submissive, or being a bitch?"

"You just love to fuck with me, don't you Bryan?" Lei seductively whispered in a smart tone, "Sometimes I debate on if you love fucking more with my mind than my body?"

"Not quite," Fury spoke before viciously pushing Lei down on the seat to where his back collided with the smooth, dark leather. "It would be so easy..." Bryan continued to maliciously whisper, his hands sliding underneath the fragile material of the thin tank Wulong wore, feeling the hard muscles to ripple beneath his touch. "So easy to kill you right now, or disable you at least if you truly intend on going against _my_ orders. You've always had a real knack for disobeying the rules, but you'll find mine aren't to be toyed with."

Bryan then let one of his hands wonder down to the center of Lei's black jeans, grasping at the slight hardness beneath the material, causing Lei to faintly gasp. "Hmm, maybe I could see how much I really can make you bleed, this time to the point where you can't so much as limp? That ought to keep you out of my way long enough..."

Fury watched as Lei's eyes suddenly widened, the detective instantly trying to sit up, though Bryan pinned him down to keep him immobile. "I don't think so," Bryan evilly whispered.

"Well I-I don't think this is the best time for this..."

Fury growled slightly, "The hardness beneath my hand would suggest otherwise."

"No..." Lei once more repeated, seemingly looking not at Bryan, but more behind him... "I _really_ don't think this is the best time for this..."

"Huh?" Fury then turned around to see what Lei had been looking at through the translucent windshield for himself, "Oh shit..."  
  
  


^*^*^*^*^

A/N: I know, I always do this... Hmm, Bryan and Lei both have little tempers on them... lol... No!!! I'm not ready to go back to school! *cries* Then I'll have hardly -any- free time to write... Boy, and I sure am in for it when school starts back on the 18th for my senior year... My soccer coach ordered "NO cross-country!" because he said it wasn't fair to my other varsity team mates for me to be the only one not in soccer first tri like last year, while my cross-country/track coaches said "NO soccer!!!" and even went and personally screwed up my schedule to keep me out of it... I've got a lot to take care of next Monday... Hmm... I got away with my tongue ring and belly button ring last year, but I don't think I'll be able to get away with the nose stud... ::Hopes for lenient male teachers:: yea... (The woman teachers are much meaner at my school...)

And now it's time for me to throw my remaining Coke away, because I have been drinking way too much... Anyway, thanks for reading and c-ya round! ^^

_Chinese Translations— _

_Zao__ shang hao – good morning_

_Tsao__ – fuck_

_Shi – yes_


	9. The Past is the Past: Chapter 9

**_*Please Read a/n if you have the time..._**

**Author's note**: Hey everyone! Uh, yeah... sorry it took so long to update, but all the school, sports, & work has me in a shut-down period... I want to thank all of my wonderful readers and reviewers for encouraging me. It was you who kept me going on this site. ^__^ Also, I noticed I've received at least 5 e-mails in the past couple of months asking me about Bryan/Lei being an original pairing or if the story is true. The truth is... no, it's not at all an original pairing, and yes, the story is true. Bryan and Lei did work as partners for the Hong Kong International Police Force following Tekken II after the murder of Lei's first partner he was with on an airplane, which it is rumoured Bruce was responsible for, and Lei did discover that Bryan and Bruce(who also worked for the force and was best-friends with Bryan, though Lei didn't like him very much) were dealing drugs, and Lei was the one responsible for starting the shoot-out Bryan died in. 

Bryan was approximately 28-29 at the time, and Lei 27-31, so no one knows for 'sure' (other than namco) who was originally older to begin with, though most vote Bryan and Lei were about the same age, though Lei just a little bit older, maybe a year or so, but you also have to keep in mind that in China, you are already one-year-old at birth, and don't start from 0. Anyway, enough with my ranting... read on!

*But first, I would like to state this chapter contains what I would classify as *extreme violence*, and, uh, yep, that's all... 

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 9

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ 

_The Mirror of one's past_

_can__ be a large road indeed..._

_To simply look at the reflection_

_and__ wonder what it means..._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Shit," Bryan once more repeated, swiftly raising himself up off of Lei when seeing the small squad of Tekkenshu in the midst of the darkness for himself. There were at least four, or so it appeared. Following Bryan's moments, Lei too sat up in the leather seat, preparing to turn the keys he had never let go of back in the ignition. 

"What are you doing?" Bryan questioned, quickly grasping Lei's wrist before he could re-start the police car.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing?' I'm trying to get us out of here before Heihachi's force spots us," Lei hurriedly spoke.

"I think it would be better to just take care of them now. I have a hunch I could_ reason_ with them enough to where they would fill us in on more of what Heihachi Mishima's currently up to," Fury guaranteed, "And besides, maybe you've always been one to run away from your problems, but I'm not."

"Is this what so much of your talk and actions are all about, Bryan? Just to prove that you're better than me?" Lei questioned in a serious tone of voice, "That you have more power over me than I do over you?"

Bryan leaned closer over to Lei, nearly face-to-face as he lowered his voice to a whisper. A mocking whisper. "Why Lei, I thought that would have been made quite clear to you at least by the second time you came all over yourself?"

Lei growled while his eyes narrowed in anger, though he still didn't retort to this; Bryan was right. He was clearly the dominant one over Lei, and this gave Lei an inscrutable feeling he couldn't quite make out. A feeling relentlessly telling him something wasn't right for the sole fact that he – _Lei Wulong_ – wasn't in control. It was a feeling he was neither used, nor partial to. Lei was just about to say something in remark to Bryan's rather rude mockery, when Bryan suddenly spoke up first.

"You wait here," Bryan seemingly ordered, though Lei had already come to realize the word 'request' wasn't in Bryan's vocabulary, there only were orders; demands. "I'm going out there to see what I can find out."

Bryan was just about to exit the left side of the car, when he immediately noted Lei had the same idea. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going out there, too," Lei assured, removing a large band from the dashboard to his front, quickly tying it back into his long and thick strands of ebony hair.

Bryan then let out a sarcastic smirk, "Did I say you could?"

"What the hell is it with you?" Lei now demanded himself in a harsh whisper, trying to maintain his voice level to a composed degree that couldn't be heard from outside. "_No_ one tells me what to do, and I'm just as good a – if not better fighter than you are. Just because you're more powerful than me doesn't make you the better fighter."

"You and I both know I would beat the living hell out of you in any fight. On the unlikely chance I didn't kill you, that is," Fury irritatingly stated. Bryan then looked temporarily through the lucid window and out into the street's dimness. The Tekkenshu had seemingly overlooked the police car, for the time being at least, as they were now heading in the opposite direction into a more lively area. Bryan knew he had to act fast if he wanted to catch them without attracting dangerous and unwanted attention from any bypassing individuals. 

Before Lei could so much as speak, or argue in this case, Bryan was out the police car's door and into night, not even bothering to shut the door as it still remained slung wide open.

Fury quickly ran in the direction of where the four Tekkenshu had sauntered off to, which Bryan also noted was the same direction he and Lei had just driven from. This just made the situation in its entirety all the more suspiciously questionable... He stopped briefly as he came upon the corner of a brick building, glancing around it as he continued to catch up with Heihachi's small group of soldiers.

"Hey Ryo, how much further till' we reach this place, anyway?"

"Not too far, but it's not like anyone's there anyway. We were fortunate enough to get stuck with the easy job..." Ryo, who was one of Heihachi's lead Tekkenshu, then swore he heard something from behind, swiftly turning around with his gun raised, only to face the seemingly deserted street...

"What the hell was that for?" Jou asked.

"Isamu... where-where is he...?"

"Right here..." a dark voice said out of no where, just as suddenly as a body came flying at the three remaining Tekkenshu from around the corner of a concrete building... It was severely mutilated...

"Shit!" Ryo exclaimed, "Raise your guns!"

The three men just stood transfixed temporarily, gazing ahead at the spot where the mysterious voice had descended from, trying not to so much as glance at the fallen body below... This continued for what almost seemed like too long...

"Well..." Sotan whispered to the others, "What do we do now...?"

"Die."

Ryo and Jou then turned around in the process of hearing a scream. The sight they then witnessed was yet another horrifying one indeed...

There stood none other than Bryan Fury, who was standing behind Sotan's now deceased body. His neck had been twisted to the point where he was decapitated... Bryan's hands were covered completely in blood which continuously dripped from his fingers as he stood, an unfading grin present on his face.

"Tsao!!!" Jou exclaimed. "It's Bryan Fury!!"

"No shit. Now, which one of you wants to die next?"

"Fire the damn gun!" Ryo ordered as he too fired his.

Fury just continued to stand there, laughing and completely amused. "Surely Heihachi would have taught you by now that those fancy M-18s are worthless against me, just like the rest of your foolish toys. It pisses the hell out of me to see the way you idiots who rely on a gun to do all the work for you have the infidelity to call yourselves fighters." Bryan stated, right before charging forward at Jou, grabbing him by the neck of his helmeted head. Jou tried to struggle, but it was completely pointless. He had never seen such power...

Bryan immediately smashed his head against the nearby brick wall. The helmet didn't do any good whatsoever. Blood seemingly exploded in one motion, staining the wall a splattered shade of dark crimson as screams were heard.

"Stop it!!!"

Fury turned his head at this. Now standing a few yards to his right was Lei Wulong... apparently horrified and appalled at the scene present before him.

Bryan turned, dropping the marred soldier to the also blood-covered pavement. "I thought I told you stay back at the car?"

Ryo, the last remaining of the Tekkenshu, wasted no time and took the opportunity to run, taking off in Lei's direction, which was the direction everyone had come from earlier on.

"Oh no you don't," Fury laughed as he began to take off after the sprinting Tekkenshu. The detective moved from Ryo's path, allowing him to pass. Bryan followed soon after with amazing speed, though next thing he knew, he was suddenly swept to the floor...

"Run! Get out of here!" Lei yelled after the soldier, and Ryo did just that, disappearing into the darkness of night.

When Bryan stood back up, he was not very happy...

"It seems you forget your place, Lei Wulong," Bryan growled.

"What have you done...?" Lei whispered as he turned to the side. He didn't want to see the horrid scene present before him... "What the fuck have you done?!!" 

"And what would you have done? Whipped out your little gun and shot them all while also getting shot for yourself?" Bryan stated in an irritated and angered tone. "Now you let that Tekkenshu trash get away before I had the chance to question him!!"

"And then what were you going to do to him, huh?" Lei spoke with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, disgusted at the truism of Bryan's immutable hunger to kill. "Why...? Why must you kill like this...? And why always in such a sadistically cruel and brutal manner?"

"Because he isn't human, detective..."

"Huh?" Lei muttered in confusion before swiftly turning once more to his right, only to see a face he and most others from the Tekken Tournaments wanted to forget...

"Heihachi..." Bryan spat. Lei fell into fighting stance, as the elder Mishima only stood a mere five yards to his front. 

"This... thing has only been using you as well, you know," Heihachi stated in a completely calm and serious voice as he faced the raven-haired man, "You've seen now and many times before how brutal and untamed _it_ is. The lifeless thing only wants you for your body. He still plans to kill you, and most likely in a very appalling way, once he feels that he's fucked you enough, if there's even a limit. He even told me this."

"Mind your own goddamn business," Bryan demanded as he began to gradually step forward. 

"It's true," Heihachi smirked as he had never once broken eye contact with Lei, able to see the way Wulong's expression changed when Bryan hadn't come back with an argument... "And you've known this, too. The man you knew all those years ago died in a Hong Kong shoot-out, which you yourself witnessed and are to blame for. This specious thing is nothing more than your former partner's body; a charlatan; enhanced especially, and only, to kill," the Mishima guaranteed, "Abel himself modified Fury this way, with many amplified manifestations other than just power. The increase of anger, hatred, and lust, any of which when triggered, will only serve to make him that much more violently powerful. You yourself trigger all of the above in him, so in a sense, your presence only causes more pain and suffering to unfold." 

Heihachi grinned still more. He could tell Lei was buying every word that fell from his mouth, and he had no reason to do otherwise, as true as the words stood... "Just take a look at what your sins have caused," he spoke, directing Lei's glance over to the mutilated bodies of the deceased Tekkenshu, "You gave up your honour to aid in this?"

"No..." Lei whispered, straining in an effort not to fall down to his knees, an effort not to be weak and shed a shameful tear. Heihachi could see this in his eyes.

"And to think, out of all the competitors in the tournament..." the Mishima began in an evil voice, "I never figured you to turn out the biggest slut of them all, and a faggot no less. Also... the submissive ones who 'take it' are the ones who should be disgraced the most, for at least the other gets to retain his masculinity." 

That was it. Lei wasted no time whatsoever, charging at the elder man he despised so much. Heihachi had already anticipated the attack, though Lei's amazing speed and agility enabled him the benefit of at least getting the first hit in, the narrow of his hand coming into contact with Heihachi's torso in a vicious poke. Heihachi growled slightly from pain, enraged that Lei had managed to get in a hit in the first place. Heihachi followed with an effort to deliver the detective a blow to the face, but Lei quickly dodged it, giving the elder man an ankle kick, quickly followed by a direct kick to the knee, as Heihachi became even more flustered. Right after he'd made his last attack, Lei wasted no time in attempting to inflict his next, a furious punch to the elder Mishima's face. ...However, right at the last second, Heihachi slanted his head to the side, causing Lei to miss his target, as Heihachi instead caught Wulong's wrist.

"Fool!" Heihachi spat as he looked down at Lei, "You even think to deem yourself worthy enough to fight me, as inconsequential and _weak as you are?" he then rapidly twisted Lei's arm hard and upwards with sheer ferocity. Lei cried out in pure pain. _

Bryan watched the whole incident from a few feet away, suddenly having the urge to kill the conniving Mishima more than he had a few seconds before, though he had no idea why. Maybe it was just on the soul fact that someone else had dared to mess with _his_ territory, his fuck toy, but no, there was no way it was possibly because Bryan actually gave a damn about Lei...

"Let him go," Bryan ordered, "It's me you want, not him."

Heihachi's grin widened even more so, "It's your call," he stated, right before delivering Lei a furious rising uppercut to the chest, the powerful man making a fluent spinning motion as sparks of lightening emitted from his body. Lei flew backwards in mid air, coming to land on the pavement's rough surface nearly a full twenty yards away... Skidding to a halt, he lay there, motionless as the several other bodies nearing him...

"Looks like I just ascribed another corpse to your collection," Heihachi laughed.

"I'm going to fucking kill you you son of a bitch!!!" Bryan exclaimed as he now charged at Heihachi with the same rage Lei had before, though much more intense. Bryan immediately unleashed a four-hit combo, finishing with a mach kick that caused Heihachi to recoil a few feet. Following up with his next attack, Fury made a quick attempt to inflict another rage-filled blow upon the elder man, though Heihachi quickly blocked it, instead giving Bryan a knee to the chest before slamming him backwards with a fierce punch.

"I'm impressed. You indeed possess tremendous power," Heihachi granted, "Though power will only get you part of the way there. Your fighting style is much too predictable against one as skilled as I."

"Fuck you," Bryan retorted before wiping the blood from his lower lip.

Heihachi laughed, still seemingly temperate. "Do my eyes deceive me, or _is_ that actual blood that flows through your dead veins?"

Bryan figured it wasn't possible for him to become more enraged than he already was, charging at the scandalous man yet again. Fury's shoulder collided directly with Heihachi's chest, sending him flying backwards to hit the brick wall of a nearby building. Heihachi growled once more, rising to deliver a raging kick at Fury.

"Reversal," Bryan sneered, though Heihachi pulled his leg back which the kick-boxer had a hold of, causing him to fall forward slightly. This was all the time the Mishima needed to slam his elbow down against Bryan's back, as Bryan immediately fell down to the pavement. Fury tried to rise, but not only did a sheering pain in his chest suddenly come into play, but also Heihachi's foot against his back, pressing him harder down against the rough surface of the pavement.

"You lose," Heihachi laughed in triumph. "Looks like you'll be going back to hell a bit sooner than you originally thought..." the tall man then pressed his leg down even harder to the point where Bryan began losing breath.

"Hmm, they're late," Heihachi sighed after rolling up the sleeve to his fur-lined coat to take a glance at his watch.

"And so are you..."

Heihachi then fell forward after receiving a rather weak, though still well delivered kick from behind. Bryan immediately sprung up from the ground after this incident. "Lei?"

Indeed it was, though as swiftly as Lei had made the kick, was as swiftly as he fell back down. He couldn't quite handle the pain of vicious blow Heihachi had dealt him before, clutching an arm around his torso. 

"Get up," Bryan rudely demanded with not so much as even a hint of sympathy, reaching his arm down to ensure Lei's own, jerking it upwards. Lei whimpered, instantly pulling his arm back in pain.

The enraged Mishima had just stood back to his feet, ready to continue the fight, when he instead just suddenly stopped to stand still, a grin once more plastered on his face. Bryan looked up shortly afterwards, hearing the sound of propellers as the lights of helicopters first came into view.

Heihachi pulled a small device from within the confines of his coat pocket, which then appeared to be a small, black walkie-talkie. The elderly fighter instantly brought the device to his mouth. "Out," he simply spoke, and just like that, at least twenty or so Tekkenshu began to surface in the darkness bordering the many buildings on the street. 

Heihachi glared right at Bryan. "I finally have the devil gene within my grasp after all these years of waiting, and I will not lose it because of you!"

Lei managed a faint gasp, looking up at Bryan from where he knelt on the pavement. Lei hadn't received quite the whole story from Bryan after all...

"You might as well surrender yourself, Bryan Fury," the Mishima suggestively spoke, "Fore long, everyone will be after you, and not just the cops and detective agencies who already are, but even the supposed good guys who oppose my work. You're going to die soon anyway. Give yourself up now, and I might just consider sparing that little slut of yours." 

"I don't give a damn about him!" The cruel words flew right out of Bryan's mouth without so much as a second thought.

"I figured that anyhow. Oh well, more sparring practice for me," Heihachi sarcastically shrugged, "Stay back for now," he ordered the surrounding Tekkenshu before sauntering in Bryan's direction.

Fury once more fell into fighting stance, taking a quick glance to his side, down at Lei. 

"Don't you ever touch me again..."

Lei wasn't looking at Bryan when he murmured this, his face partially shielded by his ebony bangs, accompanied by a few disarranged strands of hair which blew in the cool night air. Fury's glance remained set on him even after these words were spoken. Bryan didn't even have time to prepare for the incoming blow delivered from Heihachi, which ended up knocking him backwards a good ten yards or so. 

Bryan sprung up from the ground, charging forth at Heihachi with pure animosity, though the elder man was all too prepared for it, quickly side-stepping Bryan's attack, granting Heihachi vantage enough to deliver Fury another rage-filled blow.

"Too easy," the Mishima laughed. "I'll give you one more chance, only because I find this so amusing."

Fury stood once more, angered even more by the laughing expression on Heihachi's face. Usually in matches, Bryan himself was the one laughing, and _never_ his opponent. 

"And now, you lose," the elder man laughed, launching one of his most deadly blows in the air as lightening sparks emitted from his fist.

"...Over my dead body," Bryan spat, ducking this attack to repay Heihachi the courtesy, kicking the man in the chest as hard as he possibly could. Heihachi flew backwards with speed, crashing right through the large windows of a nearby market. Shattered pieces of glass flew everywhere within range, littering the surrounding sidewalk and street with the shimmering material.

Time stood still for a few moments. Heihachi hadn't resurfaced, nor any sound heard from within the building. Curious, Bryan went forth and leapt through the building's windows, which were lined with sharp and broken pieces of glass. Fury scanned around the darkness inside temporarily. It was a fairly large store indeed. Still, Heihachi was yet to be seen, though there were traces of blood about the floor. Also, since there was undeniably an alarm now going off, Fury new he didn't have much time before an army of cops would arrive...

"Show yourself you fucking coward!" Bryan exclaimed before walking further within the building's confines. Since it was presumably a grocery store, there were many isles about the inside. Fury suddenly swore he heard something come from the back of the building, quickly running down one of the many isles without hesitance, charged with the very antipathy running through his veins. Upon reaching the end, he looked down and noticed the fallen cereal box on the floor. Even though Bryan himself had no trouble seeing in the immense darkness, he couldn't help but wonder how Heihachi could make it around in here for himself... something wasn't quite right. There must have been Tekkenshu in there or something.

Then, another thought suddenly crossed Bryan's mind.

_Lei..._

He'd left him out there wounded and defenceless; free for Heihachi's taking. By going further into the building, Fury had done just what the conniving Mishima had wanted him to do...

"Shit..." Bryan cursed as he turned around, heading back toward the broken window he had first come through. He quickly sprinted down the long and narrow path of the isle, feeling the cool night time breeze brush throughout the store. Upon reaching the shattered window, Bryan was now in for a rather unpleasant surprise...

*^*^*^*^*^*

Okay, there's chp 9 for you! (I really hope I still have some readers left out there...) Especially considering the time of year it is. I myself obviously know how hard making time for extras can be in balancing out with school, sports, and other activities. The only time I've even read any ff here at ff.net has been in my free time during BCISII...

Also, if anyone's interested, I've managed to make some good progress on my in-progress web site. That's where I'll most likely be archiving some fanfiction you won't, and may not see here, along with my art, doujin scans, and some other misc. stuff, so watch for it if you want.

-Sapph


	10. The Past is the Past: Chapter 10

**A/N: **I've had this chapter done for..err..at least a month, but I was just down right lazy, I suppose. Also having a lot of problems with my crazy soccer coach at school who has made it his ultimate goal to make my life a living hell in his presence after I quit the varsity team last weak in favour of track due to his evilness. Yeah... now I'm just ranting.

Also, as I mentioned in the Hwoajin ficlet I just put up, I also wrote a couple of Bryan/Lei one-shots for my friends, but I'm asking you guys what you would first think about me posting them... because... yeah, they're a bit scary because Bryan just classifies as "that" character you can relate to those in other fandoms such as Lucius Malfoy, Naraku, Nakago, Goh, Xion, Muraki, or just anyone downright evil & sadistic, so the yaoi with them is usually of that nature.

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 10

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_~The end now grows near_

_as__ the past now grows far..._

_A time when you find yourself wondering_

_who__ you really are..._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* 

Bryan stood outside of the shattered window, almost in sheer disbelief of how Heihachi had managed this. Managed to get from one place to the other in such a short amount of time. This didn't matter though. Not when the elder Mishima now visibly stood inside of a lifting helicopter, laughing while holding the seemingly unconscious Lei Wulong in his arms.

"Your time's almost up. I'll get you next time," Heihachi sneered with a heightened smirk of amusement on his face, the helicopter then proceeding to lift into the hazy night sky.

Bryan stared at the flashing lights of the receding helicopter until their flickering illuminations were no longer present among the stars. Without word, Fury suddenly let out a loud growl of anger, instantly striking his fist against – and into – the neighbouring brick wall. A dispersal of dust and stone bursts in all directions as Bryan did this. 

Fury pulled his fist back from the dented wall, unclenching it to temporarily take a look at his full hand. The skin had been broken around his knuckles, but almost no blood whatsoever flowed from the wound. Instead, the silver essence of metal was present beneath the flesh... Bryan just stood, staring. What was happening to him? Why now? Why did he all of a sudden find himself in question as to what he was? Or more, why he suddenly cared...? Before, he had sworn he had wanted nothing more than power. Power; and anything that would serve to increase it. But now, he suddenly felt... differently...

"Goddamn you, Lei Wulong."

*^*^*^

The elder Heihachi sneered once more in satisfaction of himself, and the power he possessed which would soon become even more powerful than it had ever been before.

"Soon..." he grinned to himself, staring out the helicopter's nearest window that he stood by, looking down at the place he had left Fury. Even though there was now nothing really to feed to view other than building tops bordered by the darkness of night itself, the Mishima could take a pretty good guess as to what the picture currently looked like. Bryan Fury would come; but he was to lose, and this was most certainly for sure, Heihachi would see to it. How did the elder man know Fury would even follow though? Simple. Fury now had nothing left to savour in his life of encompassing death that had surrounded him for so long. Even though arisen in new life; Bryan had brought death along with him. To cheat death is to live in the darkness of it, much like Heihachi's son Kazuya Mishima had been since the age of five, though even for Kazuya it was obviously much worse than it had ever been before in these more recent times; the evil consuming his shared soul. Heihachi actually debated momentarily as to who would actually win the prize for the most ruthless, blood-hungry being. Kazuya, or Fury? Still... he had to keep in mind one thing. Kazuya had a soul he didn't own, but Bryan possessed no soul at all.

"Ugh..." 

Heihachi turned, his previous state of contemplation broken by the interruption of a sudden groan from behind. It appeared Lei Wulong hadn't been in a coma as he'd earlier thought, but from the look of things, it wouldn't be long before he fell into one. The marred detective had been thrown like a piece of debris into a random helicopter seat in the nearest of three, separate rows. The area further back was crowded with at least five or six Tekkenshu either sitting, or talking in some random chat. There were also two other Tekkenshu up front, apparently pilots as well.

"Hmp, I hadn't expected you to wake up anytime soon," Heihachi smirked from his standing spot next to a large window of the helicopter's side door, facing Wulong who only sat a few yards to his front.

"You bastard..." Lei managed to say, groaning each and every time he shifted a limb or his position at all, even an inch.

"This just hasn't been your week, has it?" the elder Mishima mocked in a rude tone filled with amusement. "I honestly don't see why you ever decided to enter any of the Iron Fists in the first place. Your performance in all three of the tournaments you've participated in can be summarized as nothing short of atrocious, and worst of all; _weak_. You've always been the weakest male competitor ever to enter the Tekken, and hell, even Nina Williams overpowers you in strength. If you had of been my son, I would have killed you for it at first sign due to the dishonour you'd place upon me. Chaolan Lee may not be the strongest fighter in the tournament, stronger than you I might add, but at least he bares the fighting skills to win and the intelligence to succeed."

"Go.. to fucking.. hell.." Lei harshly stated with hate; something he'd been taught never to show or feel. But he did. He hated this man. It was obvious to Lei that Heihachi knew he'd be no challenge to fight, especially like this, so it now appeared to Wulong that the Mishima before him was instead going to have some fun fucking with his mind, just to heighten his sick hilarity. "For being the worthless fighter I am, you sure acted as if I was an important asset to the previous tournament."

Heihachi shook his head with a slight laugh, acting like he was waiting for Lei to say more.

Lei looked down at the floor temporarily in thought, everything preluding the fourth tournament suddenly rushing back through his thoughts. "You wanted me to join you; help you with your research somehow, in which I of course rejected. I never found out what it was."

"Well it doesn't matter now, for you've helped me all the same with your stubbornness," the elder man replied, his voice serious, yet mocking at the same time. "You did as you always did in the past. In attempts to gain more strength, you've always made those around you all the more vulnerable in the process of it, for _honour_. Well I'll tell you this much, Wulong Lei, helping others merely to help yourself makes you no better than so many of the other greedy rats who entered my previous tournament," Heihachi spat with a glare.

Lei didn't want to hear anymore of this. No. He didn't know if he could handle anymore of Heihachi's menacing words; true words... which had seemed to shred right through him.

"Now it won't be long," Heihachi continued, "Be long before everything is set in place. Bryan Fury's death will be the starting point of unleashing my great power, for then nothing can possibly stand in the way of my bio-weapon. I have my son and grandson chained up at this very moment, along with Ogre's DNA in my grasp, so the devil gene will be mine shortly as well. ...The world will soon enter what will be known as 'the age of darkness'."

"Overconfidence is your weakness," Lei accusingly stated.

"Foolish bitch. Your weakness is your weakness."

*^*^*

Bryan continued to run down the streets as fast as he could, caring less as to what or who he ran into along the way. Hell, he'd sworn he'd knocked a young woman through the glass window of some restaurant a couple blocks ago, but it of course meant nothing to him. Fury knew where he was going; and _nothing _would stand is his way. As of now; the Fourth Tekken was back into play, which was actually true, even considering Bryan's current unawareness to this... Fury was contented with his apparent success in ditching the numerous cops awhile back before they'd made their arrival to the deserted street he'd recently vacated of his presence.

Still, with every four-foot step of the way Bryan now took down the luminous sidewalk, or sprint in this case, he felt his strength deteriorate that much more. Oh fuck it. As long as he possessed enough power to brutally kill these fucking bastards he'd despised for so long. All of them. Heihachi, for taking everything away from him. Dr. Abel, for giving him life, only to give him death. Lei Wulong for... everything, really.

_ I should've fucking killed him back at the inn._

No matter what, one thing was certain. If Bryan truly was to die on this night, he would _not_ be the only one.

Back to Lei again... Things had obvious swayed from the original path Fury had intended in the start, which was to make Lei his, use him, and dispose of him. Not in any pleasant form whatsoever, he might add. Still... why hadn't Fury killed Lei already? He'd originally planned things out much different the day before... basically to rape him to a bloody pulp, before slitting his throat. The last part actually wouldn't have seemed nearly so sadistic as anyone would have normally expected of Bryan, but the idea of ripping the detective's body limb by limb and organ by organ didn't really appeal to him as much for some reason, though the idea was still fairly tempting. Yes, Lei Wulong's motionless body would look much too beautiful completely splattered in dark crimson... maybe with a few slow; make that agonizingly slow; stabs to the side, accompanied by the incessant cries of unbearable pain. Make him suffer a slow death.

Yes, things had definitely not gone as planned. As Fury continued to sprint down the tapered sidewalks, an unfamiliar feeling had begun to set it. It was regret. An unknown feeling to him... He regretted not having killed Lei back at the inn, and now viewed the fact that he hadn't exterminated the detective as a sure sign of weakness. 'Bryan' and 'weak' definitely didn't fall within even a thousand miles of each other. Hell, he had possessed more power than any of the other competitors ever to enter the Tekken, and was namely the most powerful being in existence. However, he had previously failed to uphold this title due to the sickness brought along with the death that yet again was closing in on him. Fury staked everything on this one purpose; to become the most powerful being in existence once again. What the fuck else mattered? What other purpose in life did he have? Once again, he valued power the way Lei valued honour.

_ Your death would be too much of a wasteful shame in all this..._

"What the hell?" Bryan said aloud during his run, barely even distracted by the wreck he'd just caused jaywalking, "Fuck, I actually said that shit," he growled. Yet again another regret.

Or maybe he was just angry.

But then again, wasn't he always?

^*^*^*

"Okay everyone; out." Heihachi had immediately spoken these words upon his departure from the large helicopter, which had landed right on the Mishima Zaibatsu's roof.

A couple of Tekkenshu soon followed after the elder Mishima, on either side of Lei as they dragged him by the arms down the small flight of retractable steps.

"Did you shoot him up?" Heihachi asked his fighters, wondering if the detective would even live long enough to reach his prison after the overdose of narcotics he'd been injected with to prevent him from trying anything smart, or more stupid in Heihachi's opinion. He didn't have time to worry about any of this right now; his sights were now set on another task he first had to fulfill before everything would surely be set in stone with his plans. Of course. The elder man still had Kazuya and Jin to first take care of.

"Yep," one of the Tekkenshu replied, "Don't worry; he's not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Better make that anytime at all," Heihachi corrected. "Take him to the lab, while I prepare for the fourth Tekken's final battle..." An evil lip curl soon found its way to the man's face.

The whole while Lei felt himself being dragged to wherever the hell he was going, he was completely delirious. This whole thing was like one, big nightmare he couldn't wake up from, no matter how hard he tried. His whole body ached, especially his arm, but at the same time he felt completely relaxed in reaction to the drugs. It seemed being doped up and then hauled off somewhere was now becoming a rather frequent happening in this chapter of his life, which Lei now feared would be the closing one.

"Get in there!" Lei heard some voice yell before he then fell to hit the hard surface of the floor. A door slam followed this.

_ Now where the hell am I?_

The detective took a moment to study his new surroundings, though everything seemed to be moving in slow-motion. He viewed things as if he had the worst case of astigmatism in history while his surroundings spun, looping in endless circles.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is."

"Wha...?" It had been fairly hard just for Lei to manage getting this out.

"And to think I'd half expected you to be dead by now. Obviously you've had more of an influence on Fury than I would have thought – just because you're alive." These words had been spoken by none other than the treacherously evil Dr. Abel, who stood a mere yard away from where Wulong lay kneeled on the floor. "No matter. Accordingly, it shouldn't even be three hours before Fury meets his now ultimate death, while Heihachi Mishima has meanwhile gone to take care of his remaining bloodline. Then, I shall combine Jin's, Kazuya's, and Ogre's DNA with Heihachi's own, and create—"

"An unstoppable monster..." Lei finished the sentence off.

"Precisely. And we mustn't forget my superior bio-weapon."

"You bastard... You know damn well what the influence of the devil-gene will be on everyday life forms; suppressed, or not. You can't contain that kind of unnatural power, all other genes will subside. The very world as we know it would become one, big hell. Is that your definition of human enhancement?!"

"Hmp," Abel smirked with a hint of annoyance, "You're one smart idiot, even though you practically described our world in its current state anyhow. The joy of rebirth cannot be witnessed without the fate of destruction."

The callous doctor then turned to walk away from the detective, who was pretty much glued to his current spot on the floor for the time being, so Abel wasn't worried about anything. He just hoped Fury would soon arrive. In Bryan Fury; his own DNA, there contained a key. Exactly what Bryan was. Death. Somehow, there was a way for Bryan's own enhanced genetics to outweigh that of the devil-gene in its earlier states. Anyone who held this knowledge, Dr. Boskonovich for example, could use this factor as a definite means for putting a halt to Abel's bio-weapon, rendering it useless. In Bryan, Abel had brought death to life, while the bio-weapon would most certainly bring life to death. This didn't mix. New life defeated death...

*^*^*^

By this time, at least an hour or so had passed since Lei had first arrived to the Mishima Zaibatsu, perhaps longer. Slowly awakening, the first thought which happened to cross his weary mind was 'I wonder where the hell I'll wake up this time?'. It certainly figured.

"Hey, you okay?"

Lei realized shortly after hearing this foreign voice that he was being shaken slightly by the shoulders, before the same words were once more spoken. Still delirious and obviously paranoid, Lei impulsively shot his right fist up to whoever this was, a moving picture of random faces playing through his head as to whom this was, even though his eyes were still closed.

The detective yelped slightly when his hand hit something hard upon contact, his eyes then opening while he struggled about, being held down by whoever this other person was.

"Hey! Cut it out, or they'll hear you!"

"B-Bryan?" Lei murmured in hallucination while feeling his wrists pinned down. This was most likely why.

"Uh, no... I didn't figure you'd forgotten my name that soon."

His vision finally starting to settle a bit, the long-haired man was then able to get a better view of who this was. "Yoshimitsu?"

The Manji leader nodded, releasing his hold on Lei's wrists once he'd seemed to have calmed down.

"Wha...where..."

"You're in the Mishima labs," Yoshimitsu stated. "I came here to free Dr. Boskonovich and help put a halt to Heihachi's evil intentions. I just happened to see you in here, since the walls are mostly made of glass."

Lei groaned, rubbing the back of his head while sitting up. Yoshimitsu noticed the long streams of dried blood all along the arms of the Chinese as he did this. "What the hell was done to you, anyway?"

"I was shot up with whatever kind of drugs they decided to use, and whatever they are; they're powerful. My senses are soiled, that's for sure."

"It also looks like there's something wrong with your right arm," the older man stated.

"Ugh... the drugs almost made me forget about that much, at least," Lei sighed, rubbing his bruised arm with the hand of his left. "When Heihachi did this to me earlier, I swore he damn near tore it off... Where is he, anyway?"

"He's gone to his temple at the moment for the final battle."

"What?" Lei inquired in curiosity, "But the tournament ended. The victor was never announced."

"That's because the tournament was never finished. It was but a mere trap to capture Mishima Kazuya and Kazama Jin."

"I forgot about that," Lei cursed to himself. "I sure hope Jin is alright... I heard he disappeared in the finals, and that's how Kazuya instead won by default, before he too disappeared."

The ninja nodded in response. "Heihachi must be defeated; that much is sure. He will not rest until his wishes are fulfilled, and I fear light may be shifted to darkness quite soon unless he is overcome once and for all."

"Jin is the key," Lei confidently assured, "He's the only one fighting in the way of good who possess the power and skill to take Heihachi down. Kazuya and Bryan would probably have a chance, too, but I fear their victory would result in something horrible as well..."

"Revenge is the number two reason the fighters used for motivation in this tournament," Yoshimitsu said in remark, "And it's not ever a good reason, either."

Lei's brows furrowed a bit. "If revenge is number two, then what is one?"

"Power."

"I should have figured that right off..." Lei sighed.

"Anyway, we need to get going," the Manji stated, briefly inspecting his surroundings. He was thankful to see no one within view, other than Lei, along with a couple falling security guards and lab attendants he'd taken down. Still, there were most likely cameras ever square inch of this place, so he couldn't help but figure it wouldn't be long before Tekkenshu or some lab workers strolled in. Yoshimitsu was going to make sure his efforts weren't effete.

Lei found he was able to stand, though knew there was no way he could fight. He hated this. "If only I had my gun," he cursed aloud. "Though I doubt it'd be of much use to me anyhow."

"A few members of my clan and I were able to free what competitors I'm sure Heihachi was holding hostage here, and hopefully guided them to safety. I came back looking for Boskonivich."

"They-they were alive?" Wulong sighed in utter relief of Yoshimitsu's previous words.

"Yes indeed. Apparently, Heihachi had no use for them whatsoever other than to create confusion in this sick game of his, unless he wanted some extra test subjects around for the bio-weapon."

"That's exactly what Bryan said..." Lei trailed off. Not from the words, but moreover the thought of Bryan Fury alone.

"Look, I'm going to see what I can do to help you get out of this horrid hell before coming back here to take care of business."

"There must be something I can do," the detective objectively spoke, "I want to stop Heihachi and Abel as much as anyone. I'm not fighting sorely to help myself anymore... I want to help everyone, as it should be."

Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps were heard; obviously in greater numbers than just a solitary few.

"In here!" a Tekkenshu shouted at the top of his lungs, holding a fully-packed gun while kicking through the double doors to enter the labs.

"Shit, they're gone!" another man exclaimed.

The lead Tekkenshu once more looked around the deserted lab, seeing a few other soldiers, along with lab attendants, scattered about the floor. "I _knew _we shouldn't have left that Chinese guy in here so unattended! I don't care what the old man said!"

"We'll get um', though."

*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

**A/N:** There's chapter 10, and thanks still more to my wonderful readers, especially Indigo Siren for giving me a nice idea earlier! (the ending sequence suggestion)

Now, I shall go buy more batteries for my keyboard -- the down point of wireless electronics, or at least for me because I use my keyboard so dang much!


	11. The Past is the Past: Chapter 11

**A/N:** Yeah... it's been a little while since I've update this, once again. School's been a killer. I'll also admit to indulging myself with a larger dose of rps lately... 

Avatar-Infidel: I admit I more than likely (or do) tend to rely on Microsoft Word's spelling & grammar corrections as opposed to my own, lesser knowledge of it. It's also strange with how I can read over my writings over and over again and read right over so many mistakes in the process. *shakes head* Shows what happens when I try to write after being up for nearly 24 hours, which I'm now doing again... I can't believe I substituted "You're" for "Your", lol.. *quickly goes to fix*..

I also noticed ff.net's document manger seems to be auto-formatting the text now to disallow double spacing. *shrug* or maybe it's just me...

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 11

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

_~When everything's at stake_

_It can be better to yield..._

_Thus the cliché in the past_

_Is finally revealed..._

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Split up, soldiers," commanded one of the armed Tekkenshu. He knew Lei and the intruder couldn't have gotten far at all in such a short amount of time.

Meanwhile, down one of several hallways stemming from the central labs, Yoshimitsu and Lei were in the process of making their efforts to get as far away from the soldiers as possible. For the time being, at least.

Running as fast as his body would allow in its weakened state, the detective was suddenly jerked to his left slightly by Yoshimitsu for no apparent reason.

"What was that for?" 

Yoshimitsu sighed, continuing a somewhat fast pace down the white hallway. "You were about to run into a wall."

"...Oh. Anyway, do you have any idea where Boskonovich is being held?"

"I'm pretty sure it's on this floor, which is the basement level."

"No wonder Heihachi hasn't had so much of a hard time keeping his experimentations secret from the public," said Lei between breaths. Even though they'd only been jogging for a mere thirty yards, he already felt like he was about the pummel over.

"We need to find the location system around here," the Manji stated.

"I thought those were generally located up front?"

"True, but knowing Heihachi, he'd sadly be smart enough to keep hidden ones around here somewhere."

"Yes, but he'd also be smart enough to have a network password set on the laptops at the same time," Wulong remarked, "If the local area network hasn't already been disabled in this case."

"We won't need a password to at least generate a map of this personal fortress Heihachi's established."

Before anymore could be said, both men came to a sudden halt when reaching what appeared to be the end of the rather long hall. Or at least a set of automatic sliding doors, which came together to meet each other right in the center of the blocked path.

"This place is like something right out of Star Wars," Lei spoke. Still, he was actually somewhat thankful for a break after all the running.

Yoshimitsu's attention caught the small box of illuminating buttons in an instance. Without any form of hesitance in the slightest, the ninja began reaching one of his hands forward to open the doors. For some reason, Lei couldn't help feel something wasn't right here. Though he and Yoshimitsu hadn't gone very far in this place quite yet, it seemed awfully odd they hadn't encountered at least one Tekkenshu along the way. It was as if...

"Don't open the—"

Too late.

The adjacent doors parted to reveal one soldier after another. What appeared to be the head Tekkenshu up front immediately grunted at the sight of Yoshimitsu. "You're the same guy who led the subversion of that break-out earlier!" the armed man growled, raising his gun a few inches.

"Officer!" a single woman exclaimed, sprinting down the hallway the Tekkenshu were currently blocking the path of. "We've just received word that there's been another intruder."

"Can't some of the other guys take care of it for the time being?" the lead soldier remarked, annoyed. "Right now, I've got my mind set on mounting this cyborg's head on my wall."

"That's just it," the young woman continued, who also appeared to be a solider of some kind. "The solders who confronted him were all taken down in a mere amount of seconds..."

"Um, officer?" a shorter man who stood next, and slightly behind the leader spoke.

"What is it?"

"Eh, didn't there used to be two guys here just a second ago?"

"Shit! He's right!" the officer cursed out loud for not having been punctilious in the situation. By this point, Yoshimitsu already had his sword out and ready for use. One of the many soldiers wasted no time and took the opportunity to fire several bullets right at the ninja. With a smirk, Yoshimitsu spun his rather long sword right around in a fluent, clockwise motion, blocking the bullets just like that. Almost a split-second later, the Manji continued to surprise the Tekkenshu still more; disappearing right before their very eyes...

"What the hell?!!"

*****

Lei, meanwhile, had proceeded to fulfill Yoshimitsu's suggestion of breaking away during the distraction, in order to hopefully discover the location of the elder Boskonovich, if not the doctor himself. This was all too familiar to him. The detective could automatically relate all of these twist and turns down unknown paths to the many alleyways in various cities he'd run through so many times before, and just like in those cases, you never knew what or who you would run into around each and every corner of the way.

Coming to a fork of paths before him, Lei stopped to view the silver-coloured tags displayed along the entrance to each hall; debating. They each all-in-all seemed to lead to different lab and testing facilities of the sorts. The long-haired man was about to take off down the left path, when a scream and a few gunshots emanating from down this hall changed his mind in an instance. Lei instead turned around to head down the right path, hoping he wouldn't meet the same occurrence around the first corner he came to. However, before Lei even reached another split in the hall, the solid walls had now crossed over into glass. Bingo. Just from taking a quick glance inside, Lei could already tell this was a workstation. Wasting no time whatsoever, Lei proceeded to enter the huge room's thankfully deserted confines.

"Let's see..." Lei murmured to himself in brief contemplation. Spotting a small office in the corner of the room, the detective hastily sauntered in its direction.

Upon entrance, Lei sighed in definite relief of a large laptop right in front of him. This would hopefully make things to come a whole lot easier. Taking a seat in the spinning chair to his front, Lei proceeded to search the laptop's many files. It didn't turn out to be too hard all in this case, as Lei went to the main computer desktop before running the search engine. All that was left to do now was wait for the results, though he didn't figure it would take too long.

While just sitting in the silence, many thoughts once more began to race through Lei's clouded mind. He was especially concerned whereas the matter stood on how the battle was going with Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin at this time. What would happen if Heihachi succeeded? Of course. It would be exactly as the treacherous Dr. Abel had earlier stated. The world would enter 'The Age of Darkness', and death would spread like a pestilence throughout the entire globe. The thought itself was too horrible to comprehend, causing Lei to involuntarily shiver at the mere thought of this outcome. All he could do was hope. Jin had to come through...

"Where are you, Jun? If you were still alive, I bet none of this evil would have ever progressed so far. If only... if only Kazuya had of won that final battle those twenty years ago. Your angelic light was the only force powerful enough to overcome the darkness in Kazuya's soul," Lei whispered to himself. "Gods, I loved you so much..."

"How touching."

Lei knew the voice, but didn't turn around just yet... "You always know how to sneak up on someone, don't you, Fury?" he voiced out, though in a more silent tone of whispering.

"Turn the fuck around."

Lei did as he was asked, or more ordered in this case, spinning around in the chair he sat in. "What do you want?"

Bryan stepped more into the light, causing Lei to tremble at what he now saw. It was the sign of irrevocable detriment. Fury's arms were completely covered in dark crimson, which was obviously not his own. Other random splotches of blood, both dry and fresh, also covered him in random places. "Don't play stupid. Blood is what I want. Your blood, which will soon soak my hands and every fucking inch of this office."

Lei trembled still more in fear, though he did rather well in hiding it. It was hard, though... Fury looked purely horrifying. Still, Wulong made an attempt to stand up, but was then pushed to the side in a quick motion by the other man, landing back on one of the wall-lining desk.

"Evil bestows evil, Bryan, as well as hate more hate. Death for death..." Lei stated with effusion. "You're only digging your own grave. Doing as one will with what one can isn't always the answer."

Bryan growled, slapping Lei right across the face in a ferocious backhand. "As long as I have the power, I'm going to use it," the scarred man chastised with anger. "Now, let me take a moment to decide on the most painful way I can kill you."

"You've already done that..." Lei murmured.

Another slap.

"Don't you dare look at me with sympathetic eyes!" Fury said, seemingly enraged. "Hate me, goddamnit!"

The Chinese looked away from the American, sighing in the hopelessness of his present situation. "I'm tired of all the hate..."

Bryan grasp his right hand around Lei's throat, having to restrain himself from crushing it right then and there within his palm. "Hate is the only thing I've felt for so fucking long now."

Lei continued to stare into Bryan's gaze. His warm, caramel eyes locked with Bryan's ice blue ones. Their frozen depths seemed to bare endless wrath. "Even so, at least you've felt something. Some form of emotion," Lei continued, feeling the grasp around his throat begin to tighten. "A human emotion..."

Bryan's cold eyes were narrowed to the max, his teeth fully clenched, and his grasp on Lei shaking slightly from the amount of strength building up inside. The strength to crush him once and for all. Still, this continued for what qualified as more than just a reasonable amount of time – the silent pause.

Lei couldn't help but close his eyes, knowing this was most certainly the end of the line. The death of Bryan Fury would turn out to be his own death after all...

...However, rather than feeling a tighter squeeze on his throat, Lei instead felt something else. It was the feeling of warm lips upon his own. 

_ What?_

Fury's grasp then intensified still more around Lei's hollow throat, causing Lei to gasp for air in reaction just to be able to take in a breath. This gave Bryan the opportunity to push his tongue into Lei's mouth, tasting the confusion. Before the detective could even gather his thoughts enough to react, he felt himself being pushed further down – his back slamming hard against the smooth surface of the metal desk.

"So what is this?" Lei asked, though knowing all too well. "You're yet again having a hard time deciding if you'd rather kill me or fuck me?"

Bryan leaned down further over the Chinese, between his parted legs on either side of him. "It's irrelevant, but which would you prefer?" Fury whispered into Lei's right ear.

Embarrassing enough, Lei started to feel a burning sensation in both his pants, and his eyes. God, when did he become such a crier all of a sudden? Or at least feel the urges to. To just for once let it all out. Still, if the detective had one thing left in this world to hold on to, it was his pride. Even as broken as it was.

"I'd rather die."

"Is that so?" Bryan whispered with a dark laugh. "Well in that case... I don't believe you." Fury then bit down onto Lei's earlobe, fairly hard.

Fury once more laughed in his exceedingly dark voice. "That sounded like a moan to me."

"Get off of me. I don't have time to put up with anymore of your shit," Lei criticized, knowing he was most likely signing his own death certificate. Fuck it. He didn't care anymore. "I put up with enough of it when I was forced to endure your crap all those years on the force."

"Trying to convince me to kill you," Bryan mocked.

"I'm not afraid to die. It's you that are."

The criminal growled in uproar in response to the detective's previous statement against him, then grasping Lei's chin in hand in order to make sure the other man's eyes were redirected to his. "You little shit. Who do you think you're talking to? I know, Wulong. I know what it's like to slip into your own death, and to be greeted by no such paradise as so many people in this world anticipate so much." Bryan continued, looking into Lei's fear-stricken eyes. "And not one fucking day goes by when I don't wonder if _this_ is my hell."

"I... I never knew..." Lei admitted, equally touched and surprised by Bryan's sudden confession.

"You wouldn't have. There's no point in thinking outside the box if you refuse to see through its walls. You've always been the true prevaricator between us."

Impulsively, Lei arched his neck upwards in a sudden motion, capturing Bryan's mouth with his own. It wasn't until this moment that Lei truly apprehended the fact that he himself hadn't made one move in this... relationship whatsoever. Until now.

"You're right." the detective once more admitted. "Sometimes the truth is just so much easier to avoid than accept..."

Bryan's eyes remained narrowed. "Then accept it."

The taller man then kissed Lei both forcefully and passionately, proceeding to advance upon him. Knowing all too well this would be the last time. 

Outside the office, a figure stood. Staring. Looking in on the view splayed out through the partially cracked blinds inundating the thin layer of glass.

Yoshimitsu was frozen.


	12. The Past is the Past: Chapter 12

**A/N:** ...This last chapter has been finished for many months, and I completely forgot about it... It's been so long since I updated this fic, I'll be surprised if any of the readers are still alive... (sweatdrop)

Any of you guys who are left, you have my congrats! I genuinely thank anyone who supported and urged me on, since I will always remember this as my first actual epic fic.

As a prior warning for this chapter, I will say it contains more of what I would definitely classify as extreme violence...

Also, this may be the last thing I post for awhile... Not sure... I'm having a lot of medical problems at the time being, along with a lot of homework...

---------------------------

**The Past is the Past**

Chapter 12

------------------------------

_Just because it can be forgotten_

_does__ not mean the past will ever end..._

_For the sheerness of one's memories_

_is__ where the past always descends..._

----

Yoshimitsu remained petrified in place, completely and utterly bewildered by the scene present before him. Bryan and Lei were arch-rivals who detested the very thought of each other. The Manji leader took note of the way the perfidious Fury had either of Lei's wrists pinned against the hard metal of the desk the detective also seemed to be pinned upon. There could only be one possible explanation for this.

Fury was planning on forcing Wulong. Raping him.

Yoshimitsu was purely disgusted by this, his eyes aghast at the striped view of the two fighters through the cracked blinds about the translucent glass. The ninja knew he couldn't allow Bryan's sickening game to progress to the next level. Luckily, the office door was fully open to Yoshimitsu's sure delight, meaning this would indeed make things to come much easier. Reaching his right-arm behind his head, he grasped the handle to his fluorescent sword in an unyielding firm grip; proceeding to slowly inch his armored form into the office room step by step.

Still holding Lei's wrists in a tight seize, Bryan broke from the aggressive kiss he'd indulged himself into craving, tracing his lips down to the other fighter's neck. Lei licked the newly arisen blood from his lips and moaned at Fury's continued proceedings upon him. His eyes were tightly closed in bliss; his thoughts betraying him when one on how good his own blood actually tasted crossed his mind. When feeling a firm hand slide into the base of his jeans, Lei's eyes shot open at the feeling, but soon took something else into view.

Yoshimitsu. Sword raised. Correct that.

Coming down.

Wulong used every ounce of strength he had at this point to push Bryan's body to the side as Yoshimtsu's glowing-green sword came flying down, stopping just in the knick of time at Lei's chest. Infuriated with rage of having been both interrupted, and nearly struck with by an illuminating stick, Bryan's arm shot out in a lighting-fast motion as he took the base of the Manji's arm into a firm hold with every intension of breaking it into tiny pieces.

"Bryan, stop it!"

Bryan ignored Lei's demand. Yoshimitsu struggled to free his arm, but Fury proved to be too powerful, just as figured. "I'm going to rip your fucking head off!" Bryan growled, preparing to do just that.

Then suddenly, his grasp on the ninja was released; Bryan instead giving way in a stumble of pain. His breathing picked up, and in an instance he knew he didn't have much time left.

Though it couldn't be seen due to the mask, Yoshimitsu's expressions had been overlapped by confusion, and Lei's by fear.

"Bryan?!" Lei found himself half-exclaiming.

"Fuck..." Bryan groaned, keeping himself in a stabilized standing position with his left-arm against the wall, and his right-hand on a nearby desktop, trying to retain his breathing back to that which would be considered a normal rate.

"My gods..." Yoshimitsu muttered; shocked. Very shocked. Shocked as hell. "You two were really going to..."

Lei felt his face to flush even more than it already had been – out of both embarrassment, and a hint of shame. Still, he didn't have time to explain any of this at the moment, not that he even knew where to begin on the issue, anyhow.

Bryan fully stood once more, the pain his form had endured suddenly vacant of presence. "I have to find Abel," he spoke in a firm voice. "I'll not live much longer, and I refuse to die until he does."

"Well here's your chance; get down!" Yoshimitsu exclaimed, doing just as he had suggested directly afterwards.

Bryan's gaze reverted to the side and through the cream-colored blinds shading the thin layer of glass. An army of Tekkenshu stood in patent view; guns raised and aimed for fire. The kind of guns which would fire bullets powerful enough to pummel a trail straight through anything standing in their path. In the center of the Tekkenshu stood none other than Dr. Abel himself... With a single wave of the doctor's hand, the guns went off just like that.

The window's glass shattered in a quick motion, spraying out everywhere within the office as bullets penetrated both it, and the walls. The desk and machinery along with them. Electrical sparks filled the air while the electronics were dismembered piece by piece. A dispersal of what would now be considered as debris filled the dilapidated room's confines.

The firing halted.

As the dust began to clear and settle, Yoshimitsu sighed in the relief that he'd gotten away with only a couple not-too-bad grazes to the leg and arm, thankful his sword had once again been reliable.

Lei's breathing was intense. His eyes slowly aimed to crack their way open to examine the after-effects of the vicious firing attack delivered a mere few seconds ago, taking everything in. He was facing the back of the office, suddenly in question as to why he hadn't received so much as a single hit. Then he was hit with something. A pair of arms were wrapped around him from behind, holding his own arms in a crossed manner against his chest, and his back pressed against cool flesh.

Bryan had shielded him.

Fury flinched in pain. He'd taken the bullets, the glass, everything. He felt his actual blood as it began soaking into his already crimson-stained clothes, accompanied by thin slices to the flesh in numerous places from the explosion of thick glass everywhere that had taken place. True, the bullets didn't ever fully penetrate into his body, but the flesh was still sometimes broken in the process of it all. Bryan couldn't deny the fact that it hurt like hell every time, despite the accustomed feeling he'd grown for enduring the fires. He usually never took quite this many, and he could tell more than just a few of his veins and arteries had been crushed or sliced in certain places. This was a sure sign that he had become even much weaker than he had before thought, and these had to be damn strong guns. Most likely an enhancement made on them with his own name particularly in mind as the target of choice...

Bryan sighed in determination of the task he had to fulfill while he still could.

It was time.

Everything after this was a blur; it happened so fast. Fury's grasp on Lei's shaking form tightened even more so for only a second, before in a sudden movement, Bryan forcefully pushed his body forwards with enough might to cause the Chinese to slam rather roughly against the edge of the angular desk; torso first. The pain was intense. Wulong felt himself give way to the floor before he even had time to think about the prevention of trying not to.

Bryan turned, and sprinted at full speed out of the broken-down office. He didn't let the bullets or the pain or anything else stand in his way. When reaching the line, he instantaneously grasped the elongated end of the machinegun one of the Tekkenshu was holding. Rather than just jerking the gun free, he made sure to instead jerk the soldier's arm.

Bryan ripped it right off.

"Die, goddamnit!" Bryan exclaimed in pure and utter rage, unleashing his full wrath. Bryan then took the gun he now held, and was quick to fire a shot at every standing Tekkenshu within the large workstation. A scream of pain followed every gun fire, giving Bryan a sure feeling of sickening delight. He threw down the arm he held, which was dripping repetitively with blood. The soldier he'd taken the limb from was still on the ground, wailing in pain. Without any hesitance whatsoever, Bryan stomped the man's head straight into the ground. Those that tried to exit the room never made it in time. With his unsatisfied carnal hunger, Bryan tore them limb by limb, piece by piece.

Organ by organ.

Until finally there was only one man standing. Fury's arm flew forward; his fist going right through the Tekkenshu's armed chest as it fully penetrated him. Bryan ripped his heart out, crushing it within his palm as an outburst of thick crimson sprayed out to pepper the unstained portions of his skin in yet more blood.

Lei was watching, and felt as if he would pass out from the visions his eyes were taking in. Horrible visions. The kind that would eternally scar your mind and take away every prerogative it had to eradicate these visions in the future.

Bryan was quick to disappear, apparently in retracing Dr. Abel's previous steps into fleeing.

Yoshimitsu eventually stood. Before finding anything else, his gaze found the sheet of paper which had apparently printed before the laptop had been blown out by gunfire. To his relief, it was just as he had hoped.

"This gives the location of the good Dr. Boskonovich," Yoshimitsu sighed in sure satisfaction.

"Go," Lei muttered.

"What?"

"I said go!" the long-haired man spoke up in a slight yell. "Hurry, before more come!"

"But what about—" the Manji was cut off.

"I have my own destiny..." the elegant fighter whispered. "Let me handle it my way."

Despite the contradicting thoughts Yoshimitsu was having on the issue of leaving Lei here alone, he could only respect the detective's wishes nonetheless, figuring he knew what they were. The ninja nodded.

"One thing..." Lei murmured.

Yoshimitsu halted and looked back, right as he was about to take off into the halls.

"Don't try to help Bryan, or he will help you to your death..."

The manji then turned in a swift moment before taking off through the partially broken doors, and into the hallway.

Holding his outer right-arm, Lei stumbled forward step by step. The room was filled with the distinct olfaction of blood; so thick in the air Lei could almost taste it. The very room itself had been painted; the walls and floors alike highlighted and splattered in dark shades of red. The floor was flooded with more than substantially large cerise puddles, surrounding the bodies of the many dead soldiers, whose bodies were completely disremembered all about the room.

Lei looked down into the thickest and widest collection of crimson on the floor, so dark it was nearly black. He saw his reflection in it.

Lei fell to his knees. His left-hand moved to grasp his right shoulder, as his right-hand moved to grasp his left shoulder. The raven-haired fighter couldn't contain it. Holding himself on his knees, he cried.

Hard.

His tears fell to land below, causing the slightest of ripples within the thick pool of blood he had fallen to land in. He felt the validity of his very life to vanquish in this moment.

He wanted to die.

Lei felt weak. Pained. Drugged. Torn. Broken.

Dying.

Dead.

It was all too much. Everything. His emotions were completely fucked at this point, as they spun and twisted to mar at his very soul, nipping away at it piece by piece.

"Why? Why is the world so fucking cruel?" Lei murmured as the tears continued to fall.

Then the sound of an alarm suddenly began echoing throughout the many halls and rooms. Not the same kind as before, though. This was the detonation alarm...

The sound of footsteps coming to a halt was heard. Wulong didn't even look up. His gaze had been fixated on the endless blood before him, and the added reflection he saw in it was enough to clarify that a Tekkenshu was clearly standing in the doorframe.

"Do it..." Lei whispered. "Kill me..."

-----

"Working like a charm," Yoshimitsu snickered, noting the way the hallways had begun to clear in a frantic. "They all apparently think this place is really going to explode."

The elder Boskonvich couldn't help but slightly laugh in tune to this.

"Don't worry, the helicopter will be here shortly," the ninja continued in assurance.

"And what of the final match between Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin?"

"Nothing, yet," the Manji leader replied, accompanied by an alongside sigh. "We'll try to get word as soon as possible. So, where is it from here?"

The doctor nodded before speaking. "To stop the bio-weapon."

"That's just what I thought you'd say."

-----

Lining the front of the Mishima Zaibatsu, the street was crowded by what appeared to be at least half of the Tokyo International Police Force. Tekkenshu were arrested one after the other as they hurriedly fled the colossal building. In the midst of the crowd stood the Hong Kong detectives Okura Kita, Kokan Masaki, and Han Zhang.

"Well, it looks likes things are finally being taken care of here," Zhang sighed in relief, though obviously boasting himself at the same time. "Thanks to me, of course."

Kita and Masaki sighed, both shaking their heads in a combination of annoyance, and amusement.

"I think Wulong's the real hero here," Kita stated in hope; hoping Lei would emerge safely from this business compound if he was indeed in there. "Zhang, how do you know he's even in there for sure, though?"

"Because Bryan Fury is. Remember? He was tracked by air after fleeing the murder scene in front of that grocery store," the tall Chinese man guaranteed. "And if Fury's in there, then Wulong is, too."

"But how do you know that?"

"I just know..."

"Hey, look up there!" someone amidst the crowd shouted. Everyone immediately redirected their glances to above the vastly large business building; so tall you could barely even point out the top. Still, a helicopter was obviously taking off despite how dimly it could be seen. The sound of rapidly spinning propellers reverberated throughout the air while those who focused on it watched as it just flew away into blue skies.

"Ah great," Zhang cursed. "I bet some of these guys are escaping right now. I wonder how many other helicopters they've got up there?"

"Uh, guys?"

Masaki, Zhang, and Kita all turned to the side at the inquiry of one of the many policeman.

"I think I have someone over here you'd like to see."

The three Hong Kong detectives shrugged, following the officer to the back of the crowed thereafter.

"Well? What are we supposed to be looking at here?" Han inquired with impatience, but his jaw soon dropped when saw what, or rather who, the officer had been referring to.

Masaki gasped, just as the others did. "Is that... Lei...?"

"It... it is..." Kita whispered.

Wulong was apparently unconscious as he lay atop a white stretcher. Correct that.

Red.

His entire body was drenched in several layers of blood, both dry and fresh. His long hair hung down over the back end of the stretcher; crimson drops falling to stain the pavement below. It was horrible, and purely terrifying to look at. It looked like Lei had literally swum blood.

"My gods..." Zhang murmured. "Is he...?"

"No, he's not dead," one of the overhearing medical examiners spoke in remark. "Just a bit of hyperventilated shock. Surprised he didn't have a heart-attack, as fast as his pulse was. Whatever happened in there... it wasn't pretty..."

"I can see that," Zhang replied, more along the manner of a 'duh' tone of voice.

After taking a closer and more observant look at Lei's blooded body, he was apparently fidgeting in sharp motions on and off.

"How'd he get like this?" inquired Masaki.

The medical examiner shrugged. "Don't know for sure. Some solider named Ryo brought him out like this. Said he found him lying in a pool of blood surrounded by pieces of dead bodies... Also has a couple fractures to the right-arm and an overdose of morphine narcotics. Actually, I'm surprised he's _not_ dead after all he's endured."

"He always was one to surprise you..." Zhang muttered.

------

_One week and three days later..._

The sun crept over the mountainous horizon, as the midnight indigo sky began to break apart into an array of warm colors at its edge. Dawn was here. The air was cool for this time, yet summer was distinctively present within the scent.

Lei Wulong stood behind a short, wooden fence with spaciously parted bars which separated the edge of the high mountain from a wide cavern of mid air. Leaning his lower arms against the top of the chocolate-brown fence, Lei remained standing still for a few moments, watching as the darkness was overtaken by the light.

His mountain house within the very interior depths of China's heart was one of the very few places he felt he could truly be at peace with his own spirit, as well as with those around him. This place screamed of life and light and rebirth and so many things Lei had come to have taken for granted and forgotten about in his recent times. The light would always shine through to outweigh any darkness, for the light could beam and spread throughout it, but no darkness could ever darken the actual light.

Only hide from it.

This is why Lei knew it was important to keep the light present within the world. As long as there were those fighting in the way of good, there was always hope.

A mix of rose and sakura petals were carried in the wind as it blew back through Lei's hair, and once more he thought of the information he had received just before leaving to train here in the mountains. He wanted some time to gather his thoughts.

Bryan Fury was alive, and he wasn't the only one...

Not at all...

So may hidden secrets... The detective knew he could uncover them by looking in the right places.

Indeed all of the answers would be waiting for Lei Wulong, at the next tournament. He now knew he couldn't run away from his past any longer, not when so many pieces of it were part of the future's puzzle.

What would happen? What were the answers? What was the truth?

And of course, what of Bryan Fury? What would happen when their paths crossed once more?

Lei sighed to himself, and in a sudden motion, turned away from the spectacular sunrise he had before been viewing to instead redirect his glance to the unlit portion of the sky. It would without a doubt return just as soon as the light began to vanish, just as it always did.

The darkness.

Yet... maybe Wulong was more at home here than he thought...

----------

----

--The End


End file.
